Black out
by Lily272
Summary: Joey wakes up in a fancy hotel suit and has no idea how he got there. Weeks later someone notices that he has a tattoo on his back but is that the only surprise he earned from one night of excessive drinking?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Or I wouldn't be here.

Thanks to Twilight684 for beta reading this story and fixing up all my many spelling and grammar mistakes. Hope you'll enjoy it.

**Black out**

**Chapter 1**

"_Where the hell am I?"_ Joey wondered sleepily, looking around the bright room while he slowly raised his tired and sore body. He just started to move his body when he felt a familiar feeling, familiar but still strange, and groaned quietly in his annoyance. He let his head drop back onto silken and soft pillows, trying to see something that explained his feelings somewhere in his clouded memory from the previous night.

He knew that he must have been with some guy last night. It wasn't his first time with a man and he could easily recognize the sensation that always followed the intrusion of someone's cock. To his own surprise he hardly felt the usual soreness that came along with it though. He looked around the room again and noticed that he was the only one who was in the room at the moment. There was no clothing apart from his own, and it looked like it was just some random fancy hotel room.

He allowed himself to fall back onto the silken bed and wondered if the guy he had been with had at least paid for everything, because he was broke and there was no way that he could afford anything like this. With the way the room looked it had probably cost more then Joey earned in a month.

He turned around in the bed, noticing a piece of paper on the nightstand for the first time, and grabbed it. On it where two pills and next to it a glass filed with water. Joey eyed the drugs wondering what they're for since he didn't feel much pain. Joey looked at the paper and read:

-The drugs are for your sore head!  
-The suite is paid for till tomorrow so take your time getting up.  
-Breakfast will be delivered around noon and left in the living room, but you're free to take it into bed with you. Enjoy.

"_What sore head_?_"_ he wondered and sat up again, looking around for the food. He grabbed the blanket and moved it around himself while he walked towards the door and looked out. It really wasn't a room like he assumed after waking up; it was a suite that looked even more expensive in the hall and the living room that was going from it than it had in the bedroom.

Joey walked around and found three trays on one of the tables in the living room. There was a cover over each of the three trays on the big table and Joey walked over to remove one cover after another to have a look. On one of the trays was a plate with a croissant, some bread, and some slices of toast-some made out of white and some out of brown bread. Next to it were some small pieces of packed butter, a small bowl with jam, and a few slices of cheese-ham and salami where placed on another small plate.

On the second tray were plates filled with fried sausages, bacon, and two bowls-one with a bit of scrambled eggs and one with some beans. All those where accompanied by more toast and two scones. On the third covered tray he found a bowl of rice, one with miso soup and lots of other stuff-like a bit of grilled fish, tamagoyaki, tsukemono pickles, natto, and so on.

_Wow._ Joey thought as his eyes got huge while he nearly started to drool by the sight of not only one breakfast, but three of them. _"So much food for one person, but it would be a waist to just choose one wouldn't it?"_ And with that thought he sat down on the couch and started to eat one after the other until he was so full that he could nearly roll back to his bed before he took the drugs in the hope that they wouldn't only help his sore head and the faint soreness coming from a completely different area of his young body, but also his now overstuffed and sore stomach, which actually caused him the worst of the pain he felt right now.

After he had swallowed the drugs he laid down and tried to remember what had happened the previous night again. He started with what he remembered. He had been out for a drink with Mai, who wanted to leave the next day. He had a blast with her all week taking her out all the time and letting her go shopping with Téa, while he was at work.

Joey looked at his watch at that thought and growled, it was already too late to see her at the airport and so he stood up to look through his clothing, which was spread out on the floor, until he found his mobile phone to send her a message. 'Sorry I missed you today and couldn't see you off,' he wrote. 'And do you have any idea what happened last night? I hardly remember anything that happened past midnight I think.'

After that he laid back down again, trying to remember anything further, but all that he remembered was that he had lots of fun with Mai on the dance floor and that they had made lots of jokes and even flirted jokingly. Both of them knew that Joey was gay and so Mai knew as well as he did that it was just joking and laughed at his fruitless attempts. Joey remembered that she even said that the way he flirted, it wasn't a surprise that he was still single and that she would have to help him if he ever wanted to get laid.

Joey gave a sigh, shortly after that everything was blank. He didn't even know until what time exactly he still remembered the events of the previous night, never mind remembering anything about how Mai left or how he ended up with a guy. Hell he didn't even know if it hadn't been the other way around. Maybe he had just left her there alone, going away with a guy without remembering to even tell her. Joey definitely had been drunk enough for that considering that he had ended up in some random hotel. He just desperately hoped that he hadn't been that rude to Mai on her last night in town, she probably wouldn't talk to him for ages if he had done that.

After pondering about it for what felt like ages he finally fell back asleep. The drugs had helped against both his sore head, as well as his stomach pain. By the time he woke up again it was already dark and Joey decided that it might be better to leave before he ended up staying another night at this place, and hoped that someone down at the reception knew who had been with him, even though it probably wasn't very likely.

Joey got dressed again in his best black jeans and red shirt that he had been wearing the previous night and walked down to the reception to hand over the keycard and inform them that he was going to check out. He also asked on whose name the room had been booked. The woman behind the counter, who looked to be in her late 40s-and about as easy going as the queen herself-looked at him strangely when he asked but quickly looked it up on the computer anyway. "It's booked on the name of Joseph Wheeler sir. Anything else we can do for you?" she said, sounding polite. She had a polite, but clearly fake, smile; but the way she looked over Joey's clothing he knew that she didn't believe him to be up to the standards of this hotel.

"Maybe," Joey said with a blush. "Who was the other guy that was with me?"

Now the women behind the counter looked down on Joey like he was nothing but a whore and obviously got that he had been too drunk to remember anything and said, hardly able to keep a polite smile in place, "I'm sorry sir, but I wasn't working last night and the colleagues that where aren't working today and didn't mention anything to me either. They probably don't even know. We don't intrude on our paying customers' lives in such a way." It was clear that she had figured out that Joey wasn't such a paying customer himself and must be there by someone else's financial aid.

"Thanks anyway," Joey mumbled, slightly blushing, and left as fast as he could. That hadn't helped at all. The only thing he knew now was that the guy that had been with him had known his name during the previous night, at least for some time, and that he must be loaded with money. But he didn't know why said guy wasn't there when Joey woke up or who he was. Joey just knew that they had been very intimate while that guy had been in that room with him.

"_Oh well_,_"_ Joey thought, trying not to linger too much on a past that could be neither changed nor remembered, _"he must be a nice__guy, after all he organized such a great breakfast for me before he left and it obviously was just a one-night stand to him so who cares. Maybe he was just as drunk as I was."_

Joey walked home slowly towards his empty apartment. He had moved out from his father's place when he was 18 because he wanted his father to see that he wouldn't pay for his booze forever and by now his dad was just about capable to stop his drinking when he got in trouble paying his rent and managed to just about survive on his own. Joey visited him at least once a week though. After all, he still loved his old man and knew that he only drank so badly because he missed his wife and daughter. He didn't hate his mother for it either though, his father had never been a great husband to her and always been watching TV or been out with some pals playing cards just for the fun of it.

The two of them had lived next to each other more then together for a long time before she left and Joey had noticed a long time before his mother had left that his father was the only one happy with the way they lived. Joey wasn't sure why his father hadn't spent more quality time with her when he loved her so much that her leaving him had been such a bad thing, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. Maybe he could have warned his father if he had been braver, but he always had hoped that his father would notice the sometimes sad look on his mother's face or that his mother would learn to cherish the rare but loving glances his father gave her enough to make her stay.

He hadn't dared to interfere and knew that it was much too late to do so now. He could just try to help his father find his strength and help him pull through as good as he could. The only thing that did bother Joey about his mother was that she had left without a second glance towards him. She never seemed to really care about him as much as she had Serenity, who was treated nearly like a dress up doll at times-and that's something that had bothered him all his life-but there wasn't much anyone could do about it. Joey hoped that it wasn't because she didn't love him but rather because she didn't know how to treat a boy, maybe even due to the fact that both of his parents had been very young when he had been born.

Once he was home Joey allowed himself to fall into his own bed, after setting his alarm for the next day. He was still completely dressed and too tired to do anything about it, staying in a huge and comfortable bed all day had left him feeling too sluggish to do anything right now. He would get up early, have a shower, and then go to work. _"Maybe I try to call Mai before I go to work,"_ Joey thought and wondered again if he did something to upset the blond woman that hadn't answered yet.

It was past midnight when a ring woke him up from a dreamless sleep. It took a moment for his sluggishly working brain to recognize the sound to be his phone that was waiting to be answered. He got it out of his pocket, happy that he had his pants on and the phone in it within easy reach. "Hey," he mumbled tiredly.

"Hey Joey," Mai's voice came cheerfully. "Sorry for calling so late, but I met someone at the airport and didn't get around to calling you sooner."

"Must have had a great someone to spend a great night with to be that late," Joey mumbled, eyes still closed and in great danger of falling back asleep.

"How's your head?" she asked with a chuckle. "You were totally wasted last night when I drove you home."

"You drove me where?" Joey asked, more alert in his surprise. How the hell did he get to a hotel when he had been home already?

"I drove you home," Mai answered. "Why are you asking? Did you pass out on the stairs, because I wouldn't be surprised. But you insisted that you'd make it up there on your own so I left you once you where inside of the door to your apartment building."

"No I didn't pass out on the stairs," Joey mumbled starting to feel the late hour again-his eyelids felt extremely heavy. "At least I don't think so."

"So you got inside of the apartment alright?" She asked still cheerful.

"Today I did," Joey answered. "After I woke up in a posh hotel suite with a great breakfast but all alone. Someone left a note though, telling me that the suite was paid and all so I was good."

"How did you do that?" Mai asked. "I brought you home to make sure that nothing would happen to you. I mean I got to look out for you since I'm older, so how the hell did you do that?"

"Hey," Joey complained in a slightly angry voice, suddenly sitting up in his bed, "I'm old enough to mind myself and I don't mind what happened. I was just wondering about it since I have no idea who the guy was."

"You sure it was a guy?" Mai asked.

"Considering the feeling I had this morning of being fucked, yeah it was a guy," Joey answered.

"Next time I bring you up." Mai sounded worried about the younger man. She didn't want him to catch anything by getting shagged by some random guy and Joey was way too careless.

"Hey!" Joey said again, and sounded even more upset. "I told ya already that I'm not a kid so don't worry. I can mind myself and nothing happened after all."

"Yeah nothing at all," Mai said ironically. "You just got screwed by some guy and don't even know who he was or if he had some disease. He could have been some psychopath and killed you and no one would ever know who he was."

"If it makes you feel better then I promise to get to a doctor for a check up on my next day off from work," Joey said, already half asleep again. Mai was just as careless as he was but babying him around about it nevertheless. How annoying.

"Fine," Mai simply said, knowing that it was the best she would get anyway. "But you call me when you need something, alright?"

"Sure," Joey answered with a smile. It could be slightly annoying when the slightly older woman behaved like an overprotective older sister, but he still loved her because of it. He loved to argue with her about what guy was the cutest and hottest and all kind of other stuff and really feet like she might be an older sister that cared for him. And she was there for him unlike his mother, who was far away, and his father, who was usually too drunk to care about anything other than how to get some liquor into his system. "But I gotta hit the hay now. I got to go back to work tomorrow morning."

"You mean today," Mai chuckled. "It's way past midnight in Domino isn't it?"

"Don't remind me," Joey mumbled and stifled a yawn. "Good night Mai, and take care."

"You too Joey," Mai answered and ended the call, certain that he would be all right. He was strong and brave and could get through everything. She was just babying a little because he was so cute when he got upset about it.

On the next day under the shower Joey was surprised to notice that there was a bandage on his back right between his shoulders and he could just about get it off but he didn't bother to check on it. There was no pain so the wound couldn't be that big, and a few days later Joey had already forgotten the whole incident. He was going to work on a regular basis and meeting with his friends whenever he had the time for it. Everything was back to normal, at least until he went to the beach with his friends and his little sister one Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks later.

It was a warm and sunny day and the whole gang, including even Serenity, had decided to meet on the beach. Once there Joey lay on the beach in the warm sand. His shirt lay right next to his right hand where he had it while letting himself fall into the warm sand. He enjoyed the feeling of the warm summer sun kiss his skin and he closed his eyes, listening to the laughter of his friends. He already decided to challenge Tristan and Duke to a wet swim later, but for now he was glad to have a chance to work on his tan.

Tristan and Duke where playing around and trying to attract the eyes of some good looking girls, while Serenity, Téa and Yugi where building a sand castle close to Joey. Everyone was enjoying their time, at least until Joey turned around to get the skin on his back tanned as well. No one had seen his back yet, since Joey had gotten out of his shirt just before lying down on the nice and warm sand, leaving the shirt right at his side.

Joey was surprised that everyone was getting so quiet and looked up at them in confusion. Everyone was staring at him, or rather his back, even Tristan and Duke had gotten closer to them to get a better look after noticing the sudden change in their friends' moods. "What's wrong?" Joey asked confused and surprised while he looked up into the shocked faces of his friends before trying to look over his own shoulder for the cause of their shock. He couldn't see anything that might cause such a reaction.

Instead of giving him an answer, Téa got out the little pocket mirror she always had with her, and opened it. She moved it around behind Joey, who still looked over his shoulder, wondering what Téa was doing. After a moment he knew what she was doing, and everyone else knew that he had seen why they stared since he paled considerably at the sight of his own back.

Joey had a tattoo right between his shoulder blades on his spine. Some might think that it wasn't too bad since it was very small and just black instead of something big and colorful. But it still was the worst to Joey. A big colorful butterfly or pixy would have been preferable. Hell, a big pink Hello Kitty tattoo with glitter couldn't have been worse no matter how embarrassing it might be. Nothing was worse than what was on Joey's back, which caused the blond to pale so much that the others worried he might faint after seeing it. Because on Joey's back was nothing else than the little KC of Kaiba Corp.-the trademark sign of his worst enemy.

"How the hell did I get THAT?" Joey asked after he managed to find his voice again.

"That's what I wanted to ask you," Tristan answered, still staring at it. "When and, more importantly, WHY did you get that?"

"I have no idea," Joey replied, shocked, and searched his memory until he reached the memory of the shower where he removed a bandage from the exact same spot. "Holy crap," he mumbled. "Please don't tell me that was Kaiba."

"What was Kaiba?" Tristan asked.

"Nothing!" Joey quickly said and blushed the darkest shade of red while he thought about a way out of this. "I had a black out after a night out and I don't know. I must have played truth or dare or some other stupid thing to end up like this; I have no idea. I don't remember getting that. How the hell could I get THAT wasted?"

"You where drinking with Kaiba?" Tristan asked looking worried towards his friend.

"Like hell," Joey rushed to say. "I was drinking with Mai, ya know the night she left, but I sort of woke up in a hotel."

"And what does that have to do with Kaiba?" Tristan asked, looking like he already feared the answer and was about to get sick. All of Joey's friends knew that he was gay, but they never thought it possible that he might like Kaiba.

"Are you dating Kaiba?" Yugi asked curiously, and looking a lot like a child that was handed a gigantic lollipop. "Why didn't you ask him to join us today?"

"I'm not dating Kaiba!" Joey nearly screamed at Yugi, even though he knew that it wasn't fair. Yugi just wanted to befriend the cold CEO and was worried that he was just so grumpy because he was all alone with so much responsibility, and Joey knew that Yugi might even have a point there. Kaiba probably could use some friends, but that didn't mean that he had to be that friend. He definitely wouldn't attempt to be something like that, considering that Kaiba always looked down on him and made fun of him. "And I sure as hell won't take him anywhere. This has nothing to do with him! It can't have anything to do with him, and I will get rid of that damned thing as soon as possible."

"And how are you going to afford that?" Serenity asked, worried for her brother and already making a mental note to ask Mai to take her brother home the next time she goes out with him. After all, Serenity had no idea that Joey somehow managed to get laid and a tattoo after being brought home.

"I don't know; I'll save up for it no matter how long it takes," Joey replied angrily and grabbed his shirt to put it on. He would have to get a bit more pale until he got rid of it since he didn't want to sunbath where anyone could see that ugly thing on his back. "I'm going to see a doctor tomorrow morning and see what it takes to get rid of it."

"We've got to work tomorrow," Tristan reminded his buddy, who was also a colleague of his by now.

"Then I'll ask if I can go a little sooner because of an appointment and make sure to really have one by then," Joey explained, upset. Why the hell did he have to get that stupid thing? How did he get it? And was that one-night stand he had really with Kaiba? It did seem most likely considering the tattoo he had. Joey tried to imagine Kaiba's face when he woke up with the street dog in his arm and suddenly had to laugh even in this kind of situation.

"Does anyone know a good mental institution?" Tristan asked worriedly. "I think he's really lost it now."

"Sorry guys," Joey forced out between laughs that were shaking his whole body in amusement of the mentle picture he had in front of his eyes. He pictured Kaiba's thunder shocked face after waking up, probably with a sore head of his own and staring down at the Mutt that was still sleeping in his arms. He probably ran for the hills as fast as he could. _"But he wouldn't care about me,"_ Joey assumed. "I just thought of something really funny."

"Please do tell me because I really could use something to laugh about right now," Tristan mumbled, still a little worried for his friend's mental wellbeing.

"I can't," Joey answered, slowly calming down, and grinned. "But don't worry. I bet it was just some random dare with some random guy. It can't have been Kaiba."

"Why not?" Yugi asked in curiosity.

"Easy," Joey answered. "Firstly, because I'm really sure that I had sex with that guy and I doubt that I could be drunk enough to do that with Kaiba."

"I hope your right there," Tristan answered, making a face that clearly showed his disgust for the mental image he just got, "especially since you where drunk enough to get a KC tattoo!"

"And secondly," Joey continued, ignoring the interruption, "the guy left me a note, something for a sore head, a great breakfast-or rather three of those to choose from-and everything. The room was even paid for and I could take my sweet time leaving the hotel suite since it was paid for an extra night. Kaiba would never do something nice like that."

"Maybe he would," Yugi mused, "if he loves you."

Now Tristan, Téa and Joey where laughing their heads off, and even Serenity was chuckling at the words.

"I doubt that, considering the fights they've had."

"Maybe it's just Seto's way of showing his affections," Yugi mumbled, slightly reddened by the laughter of his friends over his words. "You know, like a lovers' quarrel."

Everyone laughed even harder, but a tiny voice in the back of Joey's mind was still wondering, _"What if Yugi is right?"_ Joey ignored that voice though and didn't want to imagine it. Unfortunately his imagination didn't ask him if he wanted that or not.

After everyone had calmed down and was having a bit of fun again, Joey lay in the sand again and was once more relaxing. At that moment some images came into his mind. He imagined lying in a huge white bed, soft and warm like the sand but with more of a silken feeling to it, like the fancy bed in the hotel he woke up in. In his mind he heard soft footsteps walking closer towards him.

Everything was dark, and in his mind he had his eyes closed just like they where in reality. The soft footsteps came closer until Joey heard a voice, Kaiba's voice, whisper huskily, "I'm home, and I brought you a treat."

"What treat?" a voice in the blond's head mumbled. It was his own voice answering his imaginative Kaiba without allowing the real world around him to notice his daydream.

"Some ice cream," the imaginary Kaiba answered while Joey still lay on the big white bed with his eyes closed and the blanket only up to his hip, exposing his naked body and showing the tattoo on his back.

"Tasty," Joey mumbled tiredly and half asleep in his relaxed state, and this time Tristan turned to look at Joey with a chuckle, believing Joey was asleep and dreaming of some food-it wouldn't be a first.

"Too bad that you're not going to eat it," the way out of character Kaiba from Joey's daydream whispered, still using that husky voice; and then Joey imagined something cold on his tattoo and then more of it going down along his spine. But it didn't stay there for long because a hot and wet tongue licked it from his heated skin and Joey gave a quiet moan.

He woke up from his daydream when he heard Tristan's loud laughter about him moaning in his dream of some tasty food and Joey blushed, happy that Tristan's assumption about the contents of his daydream were way off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Black out**

**Chapter 2**

During the next few days Joey kept getting similar dreams and started to wonder if Kaiba could be anything like he was in his dreams. He probably wasn't but since Kaiba wasn't romantic even in his dreams and not especially caring either, it might be possible, especially since he was mostly after sex in Joey's dreams. Just rarely Joey dreamed about just lying with Kaiba in the big garden of his huge mansion with his head on Kaiba's lab while he read a story for Joey who would definitely enjoy listening to Kaiba's velvet voice and they would discus the book with each other afterwards. Joey loved to read but none of his friends shared that passion and Joey was sure that Kaiba did read a lot but wondered if it would be something else rather then fantasy books which Joey preferred. Kaiba probably would chose some boring autobiographies. Still the thought about how it might be to date Kaiba was never far from his mind and sometimes he thought that some lover's spats with Kaiba might even be nice.

A few more weeks passed in that manner. Over and over similar daydreams lingered in Joey's mind whenever it was unguarded. And after each and everyone of them Joey argued with himself that the thought of him being together with Kaiba couldn't possibly be appealing to him. He told himself over and over what a jerk Kaiba was and that he only cared about himself but unfortunately there was a little voice in Joey's head that reminded him that Kaiba did care for something else. He cared for his little brother Mokuba, he cared for his company for which he worked hard. And on top of that the same little voice in Joey's head reminded him on the fact that Seto Kaiba was exactly his type. He hadn't thought about that fact before but now that he did he couldn't argue the fact that Seto was appealing to him physically.

Joey loved the pricing blue of his eyes. He liked that it was emphasized by his rather pale skin and his dark hair. Even the famous Kaiba death glare made those eyes only more appealing to Joey. In fact, but he wouldn't even admit it if his life depended on it, said glare always had made Joey want to kiss the ruby lips under those eyes.

This went on for weeks and Joey hoped that a little distance to the cold CEO might help and was happy that he had an invitation from Mai to visit her in the states, a free plan ticked and stay at her place included. Joey was already very exited by the time he was picking up the new passport that he needed for said trip. The only down part about it was that Joey was sure that Serenity had called Mai and that she now only wanted to see the tattoo, an assumption that was mainly based on the fact that the invitation reached Joey two hours after he had said his good byes to Serenity on the Sunday at the beach. The knowledge that he would be questioned about it didn't decrease his excitement thought, he still couldn't wait to see Mai and was happy that he had gotten a week of from work to go on the trip.

Said excitement changed once Joey looked into his new passport with the happy thoughts about what he might get to do in the states. He looked inside mainly to make sure that there weren't any mistakes that might course him any troubles at the airport, but he was not prepared for what he saw. The tattoo was nothing compared to the mistake he found. Or rather he hoped that it was a mistake but already feared that, just like the tattoo, it might be a keepsake from one night with too much booze. "I'm sorry." Joey said with shaking hands to the girl that had handed him the finished passport. "I think ya made a mistake with the name."

"Why?" She asked and looked onto the scream of her computer.

"My name is Wheeler." Joey answered.

He watched the girl look onto the computer screen while his heart was racing so hard that he was sure she could hear it. "I'm sorry, but didn't you take your husbands name because here stands that your name is Joseph Kaiba, maiden name Wheeler."

"Husband?" Joey whispered hardly audible in his shock.

"Yes." The woman said slightly confused by his reaction. "Your husband, Seto Kaiba."

Joey paled even more. This just couldn't be true. "When exactly did I marry him again?" He asked even though he was reasonably sure that he knew the answer. But a small part of him still hoped that this was all just due to some mishap in the computer system and that she would apologize for it in a moment and promise to have a new passport ready in time for his trip to the states.

Instead the women looked even more confused but once more looked onto the screen of her computer before giving Joey the date he had feared to hear. The day where Joey had a black out and probably got a tattoo too.

"You've got to be kidding me." Joey whined and wanted to cry out in his misery, he couldn't be married to Seto Kaiba could he?

"Is there a problem?" The woman asked confused.

"Yeah." Joey answered. "I mean no, I mean oh forget it." Joey took his passport and left to walk around the city. After about an hour he got his mobile out and phoned Mai. He didn't care how much it would cost him he just wasn't sure what he should do now and Mai was the only one he felt safe talking to about that kind of topic. He knew that Tristan, Yugi and the rest of the gang would support him with anything he did but he also knew that if he called Tristan or Téa and told them that he was married to Seto Kaiba they would absolutely freak out and advice him to get it annulled right away. The amusing thing was that both would probably try to get into Kaiba's office to beat the crap out of the arrogant rich moneybags.

If Joey called Yugi with the same news he would be overjoyed and tell Joey to move in with Seto and make sure that he is cared for and has someone to talk to and share Kaiba's responsibilities with him and to teach Kaiba how great life can be when you got friends and so on. He wanted to talk to someone who gave a damn about Seto Kaiba and who he was, he needed to talk to someone who hardly knew the jerk and would only think about what was best for him because he wasn't sure anymore. Before the tattoo thing he would have gone with Tristan and Téa without a second thought but after all those dreams he had started to get some really confusing feelings for Seto and wasn't sure what he should do about those now. He still didn't want to have them, but he feared about what might happen with those if he really did walk into Kaiba's office to get it annulled and it would be really hard to get their marriage annulled without seeing Kaiba and getting him to sign the papers, if not to say impossible. The fact that he didn't even know if Kaiba knew that he was married or what he thought about it didn't help his confused heart and mind. And Joey still remembered the mental image of the shocked Kaiba who woke up in bed with him and feared that he would be just as shocked about him being his husband.

It took a moment before Mai picked up and asked, "Hey Joey how are things?"

"Bad." Joey mumbled quietly and deep in thoughts.

"Why?" Mai asked with a suddenly much more worried tone. "What happened?"

"I'm married." He mumbled.

It was quiet on the other side of the phone for a moment and then Mai chided him "How can you marry without inviting me Joey Wheeler, you're damn right that it's bad, I'm furious."

"Mai please." Joey begged "I would invite you if I had known. I'm married since the night before you left, you know where I had that black out."

"The one where you got a tattoo?" Mai asked sounding less angry and more surprised and Joey hoped that he only imagined the faint amusement in her voice.

"Yeah." Joey answered quietly "Seems like that wasn't the only surprise, and by the way, the name isn't Wheeler anymore."

"What is the name?" Mai asked curious.

"Kaiba." Joey mumbled so quietly that all Mai could understand was "khhhhmmmaaa."

"What was that?" she asked, "Could you please talk a bit more clearly?"

"Kaiba." Joey mumbled a little louder but still so quiet that Mai could just about understand the Kai part. But since Serenity had told her all about the KC tattoo she was sure that she knew the answer now.

"You mean, your Joey Kaiba?" She asked surprised, she really had thought that the tattoo was the only surprise Joey had earned from his black out. "You're married to a Kaiba?"

"Not a Kaiba." Joey answered "The one and only Seto Kaiba a.k.a. the biggest jerk on the planet, mister I can do what I want and I'm better then the rest of you, Mai, I'm married to the god damned devil in person."

"You're married to Seto Kaiba and call me instead of going to him and force him to get it annulled?" She asked surprised. "Okay spill it, what else did I miss? Is domino City still standing or did your world already go under?"

"I started thinking about some things. Ya know after finding out about the tattoo." Joey started to explain and took a deep breath while Mai stayed quiet to give him the time to unscramble his thoughts, especially since he had been calling her and was the one paying for the call. "I wasn't in any pain really. I mean the morning after; he must have been really gentle. Usually it hurts much more. I mean it's usually really worth it but it didn't hurt so much that time so he must have been like REALLY gentle. And then he had paid for the suit for an extra day and all and for the food. Before I knew about the tattoo I thought that it must have been an extremely nice guy and then when I found the tattoo I thought that it couldn't have been Kaiba since he ain't nice. But I still wondered what it would be like to be with a Kaiba that could be nice. Even if he was still mean at times and making fun insults because he might like to fight with me or see me all angry or whatever." It was quiet again while Mai already thought that she knew where this was going but she also knew that Joey had to speak it out loud himself. "I started to really like the idea of being with a nicer Kaiba. And he is nice to Mokuba and he did help us sometimes before. I mean he always claimed to have some selfish reason behind it, but he did help and came through for us. So I thought that if he could care for me a little bit than it might be nice to be with him."

This time the silence stretched out even longer and Mai asked "And now?" Just to make him answer her a little faster, she didn't want him to get into too much financial problems because of a long distance phone call that went on for ages.

"I don't know." Joey answered honestly. "I think I don't really want to storm into his office and get it annulled and just walk out again like nothing ever happened, but I hardly know that side of him never mind if he even cares about me or wants to be with me at all, for all I know he'll be storming up to my apartment anytime soon to get it annulled once he finds out about it. I mean I can hardly just move in and be his little husband."

"Then don't do any of that." Mai suggested.

"And what can I do instead?" Joey asked.

"Do what you had planned." Mai advised, "Pack your stuff and get into that plane I booked for you. Give yourself a few days to think everything through instead of acting on a wimp. It got me in trouble more often then you know so take your time."

"Okay." Joey said sounding much more cheerful. A whole week to think about everything and talk it through with Mai in peace sounded heavenly.

He was exited about his trip again and hardly could wait until his plane took off to take him as far from Kaiba as possible. And he truly enjoyed the time once it came and used it too the fullest. He did a lot with Mai, mostly things that would distract him further. Mai kept him busy all week, showing him around going out with him and even introducing him to a few gay guys she knew and hang out with sometimes. Joey loved every minute of it. Especially the nights they spent in some of the gay clubs where to his liking.

On the last night she didn't go out with him though, which was a contrast to what they usually did when she was over to visit him. They stayed at her apartment instead and had a few cocktails she prepared for them. While putting down the first one on the table right in front of Joey she asked him "How did you like my friends?"

"They're nice." Joey answered innocently.

"I mean…do you like, like them, the gay ones I mean?" She asked with a wicked grin. "I know that one of them asked me to talk you into moving here so he could see you more often and considering their looks at your butt, I think one or two more would be really happy if that happened, they clearly enjoyed the little eye-candy I introduced to them."

"Yeah right." Joey laughed "I doubt that it is true and even if, their nice and I like them, but I don't like, like them."

"To bad for them." Mai mused and smiled knowingly. "Could that be because you kept thinking about Kaiba?"

"What gave you that impression?" Joey asked and blushed a little. It was true, he had thought about him a few times and once even been so deeply in thought that Mai had to call his name a few times to get his attention.

"Easy." Mai said with a chuckle "Whenever you saw something in the shops that had a KC sign on it you stared at said letters and usually scratch your back, brushed your fingers over your tattoo you got in the process. You also seemed to only see products produced by Kaiba Corp."

"I did?" Joey asked with an even darker blush on his face.

"You sure did Joey." Mai replied and watched him in silent for a moment noticing the thoughtful look on his face. "Your thinking about him right now aren't you."

"Well, since you brought it up." Joey mumbled slightly upset that Mai could read him so well.

"You do get that there is away between moving in or getting it annulled." Mai pointed out.

"And what would that be?" Joey asked and looked at her questioningly. He hadn't even tried to think about another option since he had those two on his mind all the time and they where the only ones he had pictured. Neither one had looked like a great solution though.

"Talk to him and see what happens but take it slow." Mai answered. "I mean, he might not like you the way you hope but if he does, it doesn't mean that you have to go with his pace and either move in or dump him completely. Well you can't really dump him since you never even dated him but you know what I mean. You could date him now, at least for a while, just go out every now and then when you got the time and enjoy his company, if that's even possible, a few hours a week until you feel more comfortable making a choice and sticking with it. Wait till you aren't as worried about his high and mighty attitude that he used to show you all the time. Bring him down a notch or two by making him wait until you're ready. Or dump him once you sure that you couldn't possibly live though another date with him, whatever comes first."

Joey stared at her. He hadn't thought about that possibility at all, they where married and he hadn't thought that there still might be a way to take it slow considering that it already was pretty far along, but they hadn't lived like a married couple so far so why start now just because of a piece of paper that said they had married, he couldn't even remember that so he might as well ignore that fact. "And what if he doesn't like me?" Joey asked after a while, he really wanted to give it a shot right now, he wanted to find out if Kaiba could be nice.

"Then you'll be the strong guy I know you are and let him get it annulled or get divorced whatever he suggests. I would advise a divorce though since you might get a bit off money out of him that way." Mai said "And after that you call me and cry your pretty eyes out when he doesn't see it. Or even better, you come back as soon as you can and I hook you up with some of my gay friends again and find you a job here. Maybe they got more of a chance when Kaiba isn't messing around in your head all the time and I get to spend more time with my best pall."

Joey smiled at her and felt much better about flying back and dealing with his situation since he got that damned passport. "But one thing I know for sure " Joey mentioned in a joking tone and grinned towards Mai "whatever happens with Kaiba, I'll never get that drunk again."

"I remind you the next time I see you get close to it." Mai answered in a chuckle and grabbed her glass and grinned evilly "And now let's drink on not getting too drunk again."

"I'll probably so gonna fail the way we start my not getting drunk policy." Joey mused with a grin.

"Then let's start with it tomorrow and tonight I'll make sure that you won't get married." Mai suggested with a chuckle.

"That'll be easy. I can't get married again anyway." Joey pointed out laughing and the two of them started to joke and laugh throughout the remainder of his last night and neither one got much sleep before they said their good byes at the airport.

On the next day Joey arrived back in domino and once he had his stuff back at his apartment he went to the Kaiba Corp. building. Joey got more nervous with every step he took towards it. He was even considering leaving again for a brief moment when he saw the big building towering above him, especially since he was a little tired from the lack of sleep, but then he just wanted to kick his own ass for being scared of Kaiba and making excuses for himself. He knew that he needed to get it over with and that he would be worried until he did and so he walked right into the building and to the receptionist at the front. Joey had a feeling that it was easy to find Kaiba's office but who knew if he really was in at all and Joey also had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to just walk right in past all the security that was walking around and standing to both sides and between the multiple elevators.

"Hey." Joey said to the young woman that sat at the reception she looked much younger then he was. "I need to talk to Seto Kaiba. Is he here?"

"Do you have an appointment?" She asked friendly.

"I'm afraid not but it's important." Joey answered and wondered if he might be better of waiting till the evening and get to Kaiba's mansion, it'll probably be easier to get a hold of him there. He saw people walk in and out and the securities obviously didn't know everyone working here but they all had an ID card and had to show it to get into an elevator.

"What is your name sir?" She asked and Joey was glad that he wasn't kicked out right away.

"I'm Joey Wheeler." Joey answered and regretted it already. He should have said Joey Kaiba; she would probably let him pass if she thought him a relative and he had a passport to prove his identity as a Kaiba, but like always he had been to slow to think of that.

She looked at Joey for a moment and then mumbled "One second sir." Joey saw her walk over to a woman that was a little older but busy on a phone a bit further behind. The younger one just pointed to Joey and said something into the other ones ear. The older woman put a hand over the phone to make sure the person on the other side of the line didn't understand what she said and then past the phone to the younger woman and probably gave her some instructions along with it before the older one walked up to Joey.

"Please excuse the delay mister Kaiba." The older woman said, "Layla is only an intern and didn't recognize you. How may I help you?"

_Kaiba?_ Joey thought and felt his eye twitch in anger. _If she knew, he knew…but for how long?_ While Joey wondered that he simply informed this woman that he needed to talk to Seto Kaiba.

"Of course Mister Kaiba." The woman said in a very friendly voice that sounded a little fake to him. She probably had to be nice to everyone and uses that fake smile and friendly voice for everyone. "Please follow me." She added and walked to the elevator where one of the security guards stood. "Please guide Mister Joey Kaiba up to Mister Seto Kaiba's office." She told the guard who gave a nod before the woman walked back to the reception desk.

Joey entered the elevator after the security guard and from inside he saw the woman reach the reception desk again. He could see how she picked up a phone where she just pressed one button before she waited for someone to pick up before the doors to the elevator closed. Joey was sure that she informed Kaiba that he was there and knew that there was no turning back now, and he didn't want to turn around anymore either. He wanted answer now more then anything. Why did Kaiba just wait at his office when he clearly knew about the fact that he was married to Joey, and more importantly why did that woman know? Didn't Kaiba care who knew about his obviously rushed wedding while he must have been too drunk to know who he married? Or hadn't he been as drunk as Joey and if he hadn't been, why where they married at all?

Joey kept wondering about those questions while the elevator went all the way up to the top and that didn't surprise Joey at all. The hallway that leads to the huge door of Kaiba's office was impressive and Joey was getting more and more nervous about what he was going to do. And by now he didn't really care for how long Kaiba knew what or if he had been drunk too. He just hoped that Kaiba wouldn't figure out that Joey wanted to give this a shot before Joey was sure that Kaiba didn't want to get out of it instead. Kaiba would probably laugh about it for ages if he would find out that Joey wanted to date him while he just wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.

A woman, that had a desk right before the big door that lead to Kaiba's office and probably was his secretary, opened the door for Joey. The guard stopped half way to the door and Joey slowly walked onwards feeling like he was about to meet his doom.

* * *

Authors Note: Thanks to BrowneyedShamer, LovelyRose5001, Nagareboshi-Lover and dancing elf for the reviews.

The next chapter where Seto will talk to Joey and tell him everything that happened, well most of it anyway, will be out tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Black out**

**Chapter 3**

Joey walked into the office and heard the door close behind him, trapping him with the cold CEO he was apparently married to, not knowing what said CEO thought about it. Kaiba sat in his chair with the glass front of the room behind him. Joey wished he could just look at the nice view instead of the man in front of it. Kaiba just set there silently typing on his laptop like nothing was going on at all, a cup of steaming hot-and probably strong-coffee was standing next to the laptop and filling the room with it's intense scent.

"You know," Joey accused the CEO.

"I tend to know a lot," Kaiba said calmly. "But please enlighten me to what exactly you're referring to."

"To this," Joey answered and threw his passport in front of Kaiba, who up to now was still typing on the keys of his laptop without even looking at his visitor. He watched how Kaiba now opened the passport and took a closer look.

"You need a better photographer," he simply said, and Joey could've killed him in that moment. He wanted to have some answers and not some random comments on how bad the bloody picture was. He really didn't need Kaiba to tell him what he already knew.

"I didn't mean the picture. I meant the name!" Joey told him with a glare.

He saw Kaiba looking up into his face before he asked, "What about it?"

"What about it?" Joey asked. "Oh come on, why do ya think I'm here after getting that passport?"

"I don't know," Kaiba replied, sounding like he was explaining a simple task to an employee, "especially considering the date of issue you've had said passport for over two weeks and only show up now. So whatever the reason, it can't be too high on your priority list."

"Cut me some slack here," Joey mumbled. "I just found out that I married a jerk while I was totally wasted. I needed some time to think about what I'd do."

"And what was the result of those thoughts," Kaiba asked and looked surprised.

"I have no idea," Joey answered with a blush. There was no way in hell that he'd tell Kaiba that he wanted to give them a shot before he knew if Kaiba wanted the same. "There are a few things that I want to know before I decide that."

Kaiba was even more surprised by those words as he had been about the fact that Joey apparently wasn't just there to force Kaiba to sign some papers to get it annulled. He had assumed the blond to have them by now "And what would those things be?" he asked.

The surprised look on Kaiba's face came as a surprise to Joey. Kaiba always looked so sure of himself and so certain that he could calculate everything, almost like he could predict everything simply with good preparation, but he obviously hadn't been calculating this turn of events. Joey thought about what to ask first. He wanted to start off with something that wasn't too hard to answer but somehow couldn't think of an easy question and so he started with, "Since when did you know?"

It was quiet for a moment; not even the clicking from Kaiba's laptop keys were heard since both young men where simply staring at each other. "Don't you want to sit down first?" Kaiba offered after a moment since Joey still stood in front of his desk.

"I want an answer," Joey just replied and stayed glued to the spot where he was, just to make a point that he wouldn't let Kaiba distract him from answering.

Kaiba gave a sigh before he started to look at the screen of his laptop and started to type again. Joey watched for a moment and then decided to walk past him too look out of the window for a while to give Kaiba a moment to think about his answer, as well as himself to think about what he would ask him next. But Joey couldn't stay quiet for long.

"I'm not going to leave until I know," he informed Kaiba, hoping to get his answer sooner rather then later. The suspense was killing him!

Joey looked over his shoulder back to Kaiba, who by now was located a bit behind him. Joey could actually see the screen and noticed quickly that while typing on his laptop Kaiba had to delete everything over and over. He probably wasn't thinking about what he wrote at all.

"I knew from the start," Kaiba admitted after another moment of silence.

Joey watched him for a moment while something else came to his mind that would interest him greatly right now and that might be easier to answer and give Kaiba a moment to think about what he was willing to tell Joey, because this obviously wasn't as easy for him as he wanted Joey to believe. "Do you have a tattoo too?"

Joey was surprised to hear Kaiba laugh and see him turn the chair to look at him. "Yes, I do." Kaiba said after a bit of laughing and looked at Joey with a smug smile. "Do you want to see it?"

Joey watched Kaiba's smug smile and knew that it probably would be somewhere intimate, just to make sure that no one else got to see it. Joey wasn't sure if he would regret his next words. "Sure," he said, too curios to stop himself no matter the risk of getting aroused by seeing a more intimate part of Kaiba's body. Joey watched Seto rise from the chair and open the jacked from his white suite. For a moment he expected that the light blue tie would be the next to go but instead Kaiba opened the button of his pants and unzipped it. Joey watch him move much slower then necessary and could feel that it was already enough to arouse him a little bit, but not enough to be noticed by Kaiba…yet.

Joey just stood there silently fighting a blush and stopping himself from staring at Kaiba too lustfully, fighting to keep his cool. Once the pants where finally unzipped, Kaiba turned around and pulled them down a little. Joey swallowed a little after seeing the exposed tight fitting white underwear. Kaiba then slowly pulled them down too and Joey nearly held his breath feeling his arousal growing…at least until he saw the tattoo. "YOU GOT A FREAKING DOG?" Joey screamed at him after seeing the dog that looked like a street dog whose fur had about the same shade as Joey's hair. It was a piece of art all right. Seeing that it was really detailed with a black color with red stones and the red tongue of the dog hanging out of his mouth. The eyes of the dog had about the color of Joey's eyes and were huge and begging.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Kaiba asked, much too amused and Joey knew now that the smug smile had been because he had expected Joey's reaction. He was probably finding this whole thing hilarious and was just messing with him from the very start.

"Yes I do!" Joey still screamed. "I'm no freaking dog so why do ya have a dog while I got your stupid Kaiba Corp. logo on my back?"

"Easy," Kaiba answered, "because whether you like it or not you are a dog. You're wild like a little mutt from the street. You're always running around with your friends and do anything for them because you're just as loyal as a dog is. You don't even give a damn what someone does once you like them, like when Mai worked for Dartz, you just had to help her anyway. It's always the same. You fight anyone who threatens the persons you care for no matter how much stronger they are, just like a dog would-loyal to the point of stupidity and beyond."

"And why the hell do you think that's a bad thing?" Joey growled at him. "Friends are supposed to stick up for each other and help each other no matter what!"

"I never said it was bad," Kaiba answered. "And just for your information I used to want a dog when I was younger and the only reason I don't have one now is because I wouldn't have the time a dog would need me to have. It wouldn't be fair to have one if I can't take proper care of him, right?"

Joey stared at Kaiba for a moment "Then the dog comments…"

"Weren't supposed to be an insult," Kaiba finished his sentence.

"And the third rate duelist comments?" Joey asked now looking slightly confused and fought to still look angry.

"Stating a fact," Kaiba said, earning himself a death glare. "Yugi managed to even beat me and I was still able to beat you every time we dueled. So from the thousands of people that duel all over the world you're probably the third best."

"You do realize that if you say it that way," Joey wondered, "it could be considered a compliment…since I'm still better than most people."

"I don't need to realize that," Kaiba replied quietly while he sat back down with his pants back in place and looked to the screen of his laptop. "I always meant it that way."

Joey was quiet for a moment and thought about what else he could ask right now. It looked like Kaiba really did care for him. Maybe he even planned this all along, but how? "How did ya get me tattooed and all that anyway?" Joey asked after thinking about it for a moment "I mean Mai left me at my apartment block. How did I end up from there to that suite?"

"That was much easier as I thought," Kaiba answered with a smug smile, his eyes on the screen again. But to Joey, Kaiba didn't look like he really saw it anymore. He seemed to be in thought, probably remembering the night where he married Joey. "I had someone watching you."

"You where stalking me?" Joey interrupted him, outraged by that revelation.

"Don't be silly," Kaiba replied calmly. "Unfortunately I don't have the time to stalk anyone. I simply paid someone to keep you safe and to ensure that I would find out if you where in any sort of danger, like being out with someone who might use the fact that you where absolutely wasted. That way I was sure to find out if you ever happened to be drunk enough to be talked into something you might otherwise not do."

Joey stared at Kaiba. He really had planed it but Joey still couldn't think of a reason for him to go to such a measure. He could have talked to him couldn't he? "Please correct me if I got that wrong," Joey grumbled. "You paid someone to make sure that I don't get used by someone while I'm wasted and then you come along when I'm wasted and use me and even somehow get me tattooed and marry me while I'm clearly in no fit state to make such a decision."

"That pretty much sums it up," Kaiba answered calmly. "But if you try to sue me I'll deny it and trust me, I got the better lawyers and have enough people that will tell the judge that you seemed to be absolutely sober and there is no way to find any sort of personal gain for them by going through my financial transactions-I ensured that."

"And what did you do after you found out that I was drunk enough for your freaking plan?" Joey asked angrily.

"I waited for you at the apartment block," Kaiba started to explain the events of that night further. "I waited for you and watched you stumble up the stairs, or rather crawl up them considering that you were on your hand and knees like a dog." Kaiba grinned at the memory of Joey coming up the stairs like that and earned himself another death glare from Joey. "You tried to open the door but had a hard time getting the key in because you where so wasted. I walked up to you, already trying to think of a couple of ways to get you to marry me and sure that it would be really hard. But it turned out to be easy. I asked if I could help you and you said 'sure, jump off a cliff.' I mentioned that I was more thinking along the lines of offering you a hotel bed since you couldn't get into yours and you asked what you would have to do for that and I said 'marry me.'"

"And what did I say?" Joey asked certain that he wouldn't happily go off and marry someone just to have a bed for one lousy night.

"You said 'If I get a breakfast as well, sure'," Kaiba answered, still grinning.

"How did I end up with the tattoo?" Joey asked, mad at his own stomach.

"That is easily explained," Kaiba said, still looking like he was lost in his memories. "I always wanted you to have a tattoo, just to mark you as mine. So I asked if you would let me get you a tattoo if I gave you a second breakfast and you agreed."

Joey looked at Seto and quickly noticed that there was something off. He had three breakfasts the morning after that night. "What did I have to do for the third one?"

"How about I first tell you what you did to get me to get a tattoo," Kaiba mused. "I'll come to the other breakfast after that."

"Fine," Joey mumbled. "Just shoot."

"You agreed to take my name if I would get a tattoo that would always remind me of you." Kaiba informed him. "You didn't seem too keen to become a Kaiba so I had to persuade you a little. I knew I would have to persuade you, but I hadn't expected it to be so easy."

"And now tell me about the third breakfast," Joey ordered with a stern look on his face. He didn't like to hear that it was oh so easy to manipulate him and he really would have to make sure not to get THAT drunk again.

"We had a little problem deciding on the picture of your tattoo as well as the position," Kaiba looked much too smug to Joey while he told Joey, "so I offered you a third breakfast if you got both versions that were up for discussion."

Joey stared at Seto until he shouted at him, "I got another one?"

"Yes," Seto said. "But you lost the bandage during our love making and it is nearly as hard to see for yourself as the one on your back, so I'm not surprised that you didn't notice that one yet."

"What is it?" Joey asked, not bothering to point out that the so-called lovemaking was rape, considering that Joey couldn't really give his consent or even take it. He had been way too drunk and Seto had just used that fact. "And where is it?"

"You can see it," Kaiba informed him with a triumphant smile on his face. "At least most of it, if you know where it is."

"Then tell me!" Joey ordered.

"I can show you," Kaiba offered with a triumphant smile.

Joey wondered why he was grinning that way this time and decided that it might be safer to say, "I think it's enough if ya tell me."

"Scared?" Kaiba asked with a grin.

"Like hell!" Joey replied mad, but he still wasn't sure if that was a smart choice. He saw Seto rise from his chair again and walk closer to him.

"Relax," Kaiba whispered seductively once he was closer and pulled Joey closer to himself. Once Joey stood with his back to the desk Kaiba opened Joey's pants. Like with his own ones before he was teasingly slow with the zipper and Joey tried to think of something completely different to stop himself from getting aroused but it also stopped him from noticing that Kaiba moved his laptop further to the side to make some space.

Once Joey's pants where open Joey felt Seto pull them down followed by his boxer shorts. He bit the inside of his mouth trying to imagine himself in a completely different situation. Maybe a visit to the dentist or something along those lines might do the job. But it was hard to imagine himself in such a situation when Seto put one arm around him and pulled him up on his desk. Joey blushed a little and looked into the azure blue eyes of the brunet man. The color of those piercing blue eyes were nearly hypnotic, and Joey fought to keep his mind out of the gutter.

Joey was surprised to see a slightly surprised look on Kaiba's face while he pushed Joey back a little until he nearly lay on his desk. Joey put his arms back to keep himself a little up and mumbled, "I thought ya just wanted to show me my tattoo."

Kaiba smiled devilish and asked innocently, "What else do you think I'm doing?"

Joey looked into his hypnotic blue eyes and saw Seto lift his own right leg over his shoulder causing Joey to blush. He felt his member getting harder and blushed even more. Joey felt Seto's hand touch the inside of his leg and move it slowly higher up towards Joey's most private area while those hypnotic azure blue eyes held his own eyes captive.

Once Kaiba's hand was all the way up he moved his hand a little over the skin there, grinning. Joey looked down and whenever Kaiba moved his hand, he saw part of the tattoo. Not the whole one, just the head and part of the neck of Kaiba's freaking dragon. "Why isn't that dragon black?" Joey asked, still fighting to not get anymore aroused then he already was.

"Because it's mine," Kaiba answered proudly and still moved his hand over the tattoo, close to Joey's member…much too close for Joey's taste. He moved his hand further back and whispered seductively, "The dragon tattoo starts all the way back there." And his hand touched the skin right under Joey's butt and then moved slowly along the inside of his leg, much too close to Joey's already half erect member. Joey had to bite the inside of his cheeks again to stop himself from moaning. He could already taste the metallic flavor of his own blood. "You're enjoying this," Kaiba whispered seductively and sounded much too smug for Joey's taste.

"Just shut it," Joey mumbled and tried to push Kaiba away a little. "I want to know one more thing." Joey looked into Seto's eyes, which where still much too close to him to really feel comfortable. "I want to know why you did all that in the first place."

"Can't you figure that out by now?" Kaiba asked in a whispered voice that caused Joey's skin to get Goosebumps all over.

"I think I can," Joey answered, "but I still want to hear it from you."

Kaiba looked into Joey's slightly flushed face. "I didn't believe that there was another way to force you to give me a chance. I thought that if I offered to let you get it annulled you might be willing to go on a few dates with me first. I never knew that free food might work too."

Joey looked at the smug smile on Kaiba's face while he felt his hand move along his leg again, slowly moving closer to the dragon tattoo. Hard by now, Joey wanted more. He had dreamed about what it had been like during that first night. He had wondered a few times how big Kaiba might be and still had no idea since he had only seen Kaiba's backside when he had pulled down his own pants for a moment. Joey blushed a little more and mumbled, "It wouldn't have worked." He saw Seto look at him, slightly upset, but he still touched him the same way.

"Then why are you still letting me touch you now?" Kaiba asked.

Joey moved one arm around Kaiba's neck and pulled himself closer to the brunet CEO and whispered, "Because you were nice." Joey looked into the surprised face of Kaiba and chuckled at the look. Joey had never thought that it could be so easy for him to surprise him. "I mean you were mean to use the fact that I was totally wasted and seduce me while I was drunk, but you paid for the room much longer than you needed and I started thinking about you after finding the tattoo on my back and all." Joey watched Kaiba's surprised look and gave him a kiss before he whispered, "I want to be with you more often. I want to know what it's like to date you, so you get what ya want. But I also want to take it slow," Joey added and wanted to move Kaiba's hand away gently.

Joey didn't get around to even trying to push his hand away though. Kaiba's lips where touching his within less than a second after Joey said those words and Kaiba's hand moved from the tattoo to Joey's arousal, trying to coxing a moan from the blond who couldn't find the will to stop his new lover any longer. Seto's lips felt to good on his own and the hand around Joey's member soon caused him to moan in pleasure. Seto was quick to use that fact to plunder the blonds mouth with his tongue, coxing another pleasured moan from the blond who enjoyed the coffee taste of his lover's talented mouth. It didn't take long until Joey was so lost in the pleasure that he wouldn't have noticed if the world around him came to an end.

A little while later Joey sat slightly exhausted on Seto's lap on his big chair and looked into his blue eyes for a long time. "What are you thinking about?" Seto asked after awhile. His hands where still traveling over Joey's naked skin, touching the KC tattoo on his back over and over.

"I was just wondering about something," Joey mumbled with a slight blush. He wasn't sure if he should ask that question right now.

"And about what?" Kaiba asked curious while looking into the slightly flushed face of his beautiful, but unfortunately still slightly reluctant, husband.

"If you planned it all, I mean getting married and so on," Joey mumbled without looking into Kaiba's eyes for the moment. "How come I didn't have a ring when I woke up?"

Kaiba laughed a little and pulled Joey closer to himself. "You had one for a little while," he said, "but you nearly lost it a few times because your fingers are even more slender than I thought. You gave it back to me to have it adjusted in size."

Joey saw Kaiba lean to his desk and open a drawer while he said that, then he got out a little ring from it. Joey looked at Kaiba's hands and noticed just now that he was wearing a ring too, a silver ring with a small black line going around in the middle. There was also one blue stone on that line that was between two red ones. Kaiba moved the ring over Joey's finger and it fit perfectly. Joey looked at it for a moment but then he frowned and took it off again. "I said we take it slow okay." He put the ring in his pocket and planed to find some cord or something to wear it around his neck for now. He wanted to make it clear to Kaiba that he wouldn't behave like his husband right away, even though he would stay married to him, at least for now.

"What are you doing?" Kaiba asked clearly upset that Joey didn't keep the ring on his finger.

"I might be technically married to ya," Joey pointed out, "but I never really agreed to marry you, at least not while I was able to make such a decision."

Seto let out a deep sigh while Joey stood up from his lap and started to get dressed, clearly to the disappointment of the young CEO. But while Joey got dressed he saw Seto look at his watch and start to get dressed again himself with another sigh. He probably had a meeting or something. Once Joey was done he looked at Seto for a moment and said, "Well, I'll be off then. I'll see ya around."

"And when?" Kaiba asked, still looking upset.

"Don't know," Joey answered honestly-he hadn't thought about that yet.

"How about I invite you out for dinner?" Seto suggested with a smug grin. "Since you like free breakfast so much I assume that a free dinner might please you just as much."

Joey blushed a little but then he mumbled, "Fine, you know where I am so just pick me up. I'm too lazy to walk."

"I'll be at your place at around seven if that's okay with you," Seto suggested and still smiled his smug smile while he moved his arms around Joey's waist to give him a little kiss before he would have to let him leave.

"Okay," Joey mumbled after the kiss. "I'll be ready."

* * *

Thanks to LovelyRose5001, Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai, Latina shewolf, Sezthekitty, gina, Nagareboshi-Lover, Eternal-Shinigami27, lolcari and BlackHeartsxxRedSpades926 for the reviews.

Next chapter Joey will talk to Mai about Seto's explanation and if you want to know how she'll react to that you'll only have to wait till tomorrow and then Seto will show up to pick Joey up for their date while Joey is still talking with Mai instead of being ready. Will Seto wait patiently for him to finish?


	4. Chapter 4

**Black out**

**Chapter 4**

"Hey Joey, did you talk to Kaiba already?" came the curious voice of Mai over the phone right after Joey had picked up said phone. She hadn't even given him a chance to say hi or anything else for that matter.

"Yeah I did talk to him," Joey grumbled. "And I think I'm risking my life at the moment."

"What happened?" Mai asked, slightly worried but still mostly curious and slightly amused.

"He is more of a jerk than even I thought," Joey answered. "I mean he is gentle, that much is certain, maybe even too gentle. And I think he can be nice, but he most certainly is a jerk."

"What did he do?" Mai asked.

"Today, nothing," Joey answered with a sigh. "But he knew everything all along. I mean he knew that we were married and that I got two tattoos."

"One second," Mai interrupted her friend. "Two tattoos? I thought you only had that little KC on your back."

"Apparently I got his freaking dragon flying under my butt and towards…well his head is between my legs," Joey answered with a blush. "But that isn't even the worst that he told me."

"Why? What else did he do?" Mai asked, much more excited than she should be in Joey's opinion. "Are you pierced too?"

"Nope," Joey answered, "but I'm being stalked."

"He is stalking you?" Mai asked and had to fight a laughing fit. This was so unexpected and she knew that it was totally wrong from Seto to stalk Joey, but she really found it amusing as well.

"Nope he isn't," Joey said in a grumble. "But, and the jerk really said it that way, unfortunately he doesn't have the time to stalk anyone."

"But you said he is stalking you." Mai was clearly a little confused.

"He is paying someone to stalk me," Joey explained. "Or rather to 'watch me' just to make sure that no one is using me while I'm wasted. And that's why he knew that I was wasted and could use that fact to talk me into marrying him, getting two tattoos and fucking him."

It was quiet for a moment but then Mai asked, sounding absolutely serious, "Maybe you shouldn't date him. At least not until he's in a mental institution."

"Maybe you're right," Joey mussed with a grin. "But I bet he gets kicked out of every mental institution, being the hopeless case he is."

Mai laughed and then asked, "You like him anyway don't you?"

"I'm afraid I do," Joey replied. "But I think it would be safer to jump off a cliff than date him."

"You might be right there," Mai mussed, and it was quiet for a moment before she continued to talk. "But I think you'll be fine. You know that you need to be careful around him and, even more importantly, you have a strong mind and can fight for yourself. If anyone can live with a jerk like Kaiba and survive without a mental problem himself, it's you."

"Thanks Mai," Joey said and felt much better. "I'm still going to give it a shot, but I'll be careful and take it slow. I already refused to wear the ring he gave back too me. Seems like it didn't fit which is why he had it."

"So you have a ring to go with your new name now?" Mai asked, curious. "You've got to take a picture and mail it to me. I have to see the ring as soon as possible. Or even better, talk Kaiba into giving you a private plane with pilot and come over every weekend at least."

Joey laughed and said, "Mai, do you really think I would do that?"

"Why not?" Mai asked. "I would do that for sure if I had such a rich boyfriend that had done something like that. I mean he basically raped you since you were in no fit state to give your consent to the sex. You should totally make him pay for it. Oh I got it, you should tie him up and do some really dirty things to him."

"Mai," Joey said, upset. "Go and buy some yaoi manga's again to get those perverted tendencies out of your system without using me."

"Sorry Joey," Mai chuckled. "But I bet it would be hot. And you really should make him pay for raping you."

"Maybe…" Joey mused. "I mean you're right, technically he did rape me, but he didn't need to get me drunk today."

It was quiet for a moment again while Mai slowly took in what Joey had implied and then Mai asked, sounding much too excited, "Where did you talk to him? Was it in the office? Did you have sex on his desk or have you been on his lap in his chair? Does he really have that huge window behind him? Did you maybe stand in front of it while he took you? Or where you in his mansion? I bet his bed is huge and he probably has a Jacuzzi too! You would need to be careful that Mokuba doesn't catch you, but doing it where he might catch you would be such a rush!"

"Mai shut it!" Joey interrupted her rambling thoughts. "We did it at none of your business and now quit using me for your freaking yaoi addiction! If I had known that, I would never have told you that I'm gay."

"Sorry," Mai replied. Not many people knew that she had a thing for yaoi manga and fan-fictions. To be more precise, only her gay friends knew and only because she always started rambling when they started to talk about their boyfriends or a one nightstand, making it kind of hard to hide from them. "But back to the topic, you said he could be nice, what nice thing did he do?"

"He paid for the hotel suit for an extra night," Joey answered.

"Oh yes and the breakfast. You mentioned that," Mai remembered. "But was that already all?"

"Forget the breakfast," Joey mumbled. "Those where payments."

"Payment for what?" Mai asked in interest.

"The first was for marrying him, the second for one of my tattoos and the third for the other one since we couldn't decide which one to get," Joey answered. "Even though I'm rather sure that I couldn't have much to do with that decision since I was completely out of it."

Mai laughed, "And you married him for a breakfast?"

"And a hotel room because I had trouble opening the door to my place," Joey repeated what Seto had told him. "At least that's what he said, but I dare to say that he might be capable of lying to me."

"Might?" Mai asked, laughing. "I'd say he definitely would lie to you if it was to his advantage. But I believe that you had trouble opening the door and that you were so far gone that you might do anything for food. You tend to think with your stomach anyway."

"Thanks so much for the support Mai," Joey grumbled. "But there is something else that will definitely interest you and I wouldn't mind at all if you told all your little yaoi fan friends about it. Like you said he does deserve a little pay back."

"What is it?" Mai asked curiously. This had to be good.

"Seto got a tattoo too," Joey answered with a grin. "A little puppy right on his sexy ass. It's supposed to remind him of me and he said it does because I'm just as loving, caring, loyal and protective as a dog and that he really likes dogs and would have one if he had enough time to take proper care of it himself. So technically every time he called me a mutt he meant it as a compliment."

"And again," Mai chuckled, "you really might want to get him a placement in a mental institution."

"Like I said," Joey repeated himself, "they're just going to kick him out because he is a hopeless case."

"Are you sure that he is hopeless?" Mai asked in amusement.

"Yeah," Joey answered. "He is way too sure of himself to ever admit that his behavior might be a little irrational and off the norm."

"If he's that bad why do you sound like you really like the fact that he is so crazy?" Mai asked.

"I don't know," Joey answered. "I'm just starting to find it rather cute when he acts that crazy. I guess I could use a mental institution too."

"I guess you're right," Mai said, amused. "But I think you'll make it without. I think you two might be perfect together. But you still should take it slow and be careful or you might end up with a kid."

"I doubt it. He didn't get a dog because of his lack of time, so until he's sure that I'll stay with him he won't get a kid either."

"Are you sure?" Mai asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure he gets that it wouldn't be good for a kid to grow up with parents that don't get along. He was adopted by a jerk and I'm sure he would want to offer a kid a good home and all. And if he is so considerate of a dog, he must be for a kid too. On top of that, he was a great big brother to Mokuba and knows about how to raise a kid. He won't do something like that."

"If he's that considerate why did he do something that inconsiderate to you?"

"Because he knows me," Joey answered, unsure if he really was right but he would make damn sure to ask Seto once he got around to it. "I think he knows that I can handle it while a little child probably couldn't handle it to be put in the mess he pulled me into."

"It seems like you think much higher of him than you let on by calling him a jerk all the time," Mai mussed.

"I probably do," Joey replied. "I wouldn't be dating him if I didn't. And I told you that he can be nice too. And I truly believe that he is smart enough to know his limit and won't cross it too far. He probably stretched it as far as he would already. I mean he said that he only did it at all to talk me into dating him a few times before signing the papers to get it annulled. He just wanted me to give him a chance, and to be honest I would never have done it if he hadn't done any of that. I never thought about him the way I do now, not until I thought about it for awhile **after** finding the first tattoo."

"Wow what a surprise," Mai chuckled. "You didn't think about him the way you do after you thought about him a bit more. Well duh. But I'm glad that he likes you too, even if he has a strange way to show that affection."

"Maybe he learns to show it differently," Joey answered, amused. "Maybe I can even force him to see a psychologist to help him with his mental problems."

"I don't think that Seto Kaiba can be talked into anything," Mai said doubtfully.

"I beg to differ," Joey said proudly. "I managed to talk him into the dog tattoo while I was totally wasted, so I should be able to talk him into anything when I'm sober."

"How did you do that?" Mai questioned, curious again.

"Easy," Joey said. "He wanted me to take his name and I was stubborn."

"That's your specialty," Mai answered with a laugh. "That and your infectious happy go lucky nature. Do you even know that I never laugh or chuckle as much around anyone else?"

Joey blushed and was happy that she couldn't see it. He also was happy that Kaiba had great timing because right when Joey didn't know what to answer, the doorbell rang and Joey was sure that it had to be Kaiba considering that it was close to 7. "I guess Kaiba is here," Joey told Mai.

"Then let him wait. Remember, payback," Mai suggested.

Joey laughed and opened a window of his apartment and called down to Seto. "Just a moment. I'm just on the phone." Then he said loud enough that Kaiba could hear him too, "Don't worry I told Kaiba to wait a moment so we got plenty of time to talk."

"I bet he looks scary," Mai joked, amused.

"I fear he does," Joey said worriedly.

"Don't tell me that you're getting scared of his death glare now," Mai said, still amused.

"Never," Joey answered. "But when he's smirking while he should be pissed I am getting a little worried."

"He's what?" Mai asked, just as surprised as Joey was by the fact that Kaiba was indeed smirking up at him.

But Joey didn't stay surprised for long. He watched Kaiba put a hand in his pocket and a moment later said hand held up a key. "You're freaking kidding me," Joey said.

"What?" Mai asked curiously. She started to feel like she was watching a movie where the picture failed to work right when the hero of the story is about to get attacked. "What is he doing?"

"He's got a freaking key to **my** apartment block. How the hell did he get that?"

* * *

Authors note: Thanks to lolcari, LovelyRose5001, Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai, Sezthekitty, gina and Eternal-Shinigami27 for the review.

Sorry that this chapter was mostly a repeat but I thought it might be funny to hear Joey disguise it with someone and complain about Seto and I also wanted to turn Mai into a Yaoi fangirl for once. Next chapter will reveal how Seto got the key and the first date which won't start to great but end really sweet.


	5. Chapter 5

**Black out**

**Chapter 5**

Joey stared while Seto disappeared into the apartment building.

"He can't have keys," Mai said over the phone. "At least I don't think he can, so what are you talking about? Or did he get an apartment there too to be closer to you?"

"How the hell would I know?" Joey asked. "All I do know is that he just opened that stupid door down there and walked right in. And I got a bad feeling that he'll be inside of my apartment in a moment."

"Firstly, a door can't be stupid," Mai mused. "And secondly, he can't come into your apartment. You're the only one who has a key aren't you?"

"Well, Yugi got a spare one since I always forget mine," Joey replied. "But I'm sure he wouldn't give it to Kaiba."

"Just tell me what happens," Mai ordered, already curious.

But Joey didn't really get to tell her anything because he really did hear someone inserting a key into his door. The sound was followed by the click of the door opening and then steps were heard until Seto appeared in the room Joey was in. "How did ya get in here?" Joey asked, still shocked.

"Through the door," Kaiba answered, still smirking triumphantly while he moved a hand to Joey's phone and pressed the red button to end the call before Joey's surprise had faded enough to stop him.

"Hey!" Joey complained. "I was talking to someone."

"Mai can wait," Kaiba replied. "But our dinner reservation can't. After all I still owe you a dinner."

"What do ya owe me a dinner for?" Joey asked, suspicious.

"Did I fail to mention it?" Seto asked, grinning smugly at Joey. "You let me borrow your keys so I could quickly make spare ones before the next morning in exchange for a dinner. Well technically you already had a pizza that night on our way to the hotel, and it looked like you rather enjoyed it, but I don't really consider a pizza on the go to be a dinner."

Joey glared at him and asked, "Anything else ya _failed_ to mention to me?"

"Not that I can think of right now," Seto answered with a smug smile.

"Are ya sure?" Joey asked and remembered the questions Mai had asked. "It's not like I want to find out in a few days that ya made me adopt a kid with ya too."

"Don't be ridicules," Seto said with a sigh. "I could hardly put a child in this kind of situation. I mean you're not even living with me yet."

"Why can't ya be as considerate to me as you are to kids and dogs?" Joey asked and hoped that he had been right.

"Because there is no point," Seto answered. "If I would be I'd never get to spend any time with you, and you can deal with it anyway."

Joey smiled a little and said, "Just give me a sec. Where are we going to have dinner? After all I guess I need to get changed into something a little more fancy."

Joey was sure that he would have to do that since Seto still wore the fancy white suit with a light blue tie he had at work. It looked great on him, especially since the top wasn't very long and Joey was sure that he would get a great view on Seto's butt once he got a little behind him.

"Don't bother," Seto replied. "You look great and I wouldn't take you to a place with a dress code anyway."

"Why?" Joey asked, upset. "Afraid that I don't know how to behave myself and that I'll embarrass ya?"

"You might have trouble with the correct behavior at such a place, but I don't tend to care what others think so I wouldn't really mind," Seto answered. "I'm more afraid that you won't enjoy your time there and won't want to go out for dinner with me again."

"Ya got a point there," Joey answered, grinning. He knew that Seto would have every right to fear that Joey wouldn't behave perfectly in a high-class place. Joey was no fool, he knew perfectly well that his manners weren't always perfect, but not because he didn't know how to behave, he usually just didn't feel like following all those ridicules rules. If he felt like burping, why not do it? Joey had just been upset because he didn't want Seto to look down on him because of it. Now he liked that Seto was instead considering his interests than his manners when choosing a good place to take him. "So where are ya taking me?"

"Somewhere you might like even less," Seto answered with a grin.

Joey looked confused. He didn't want to go to a place where he would have to behave all the time and feel totally out of place. "So ya ain't taking me to a fancy place because I would hate it, and you take me to another place that I will hate even more instead?"

"No," Seto replied with a grin. "I said you might hate it. I know that you're not the kind for fancy places and I know that you would hate that for sure. That's why I won't take you there. As for the place I organized today, I honestly have no idea if you'll like it or hate it. I would like to try it though. Like I said, I don't consider pizza a good dinner and that's the only place I know you'd love."

"I like fries and burgers too," Joey suggested.

"They're worse than pizza," Seto replied, still smiling.

"Too bad," Joey answered, not surprised by Seto's reply at all. "So where are we going?"

"You'll see," Seto answered. "By the way, since you like pizza, I assume that you're not apposed to Italian food?"

"Depends on what kind. But I like most kinds of pasta, and I love lasagna," Joey answered.

"Then I assume you'll enjoy the food at least," Seto assumed, smiling.

"Sounds good," Joey answered, happy that he wouldn't have to eat snails, frog legs or other stuff like that.

"Great," Seto said with a happy smile. "Then lets go. And by the way, if you really hate the food, I can still get you a pizza."

"Yeah!" Joey cheered. "Can I get both too?"

Seto just laughed and took Joey's hand before he answered, "Let's get one thing at a time."

Joey felt strange holding hands with Seto Kaiba and getting pulled towards his car, but the view from being dragged after Kaiba nearly made up for that. Still, they had fought so often that it was strange to hold hands in public and Joey blushed a little and even briefly considered to just let go of Seto's hand. Unfortunately the grip on his hand was so tight that he would have to force it free of Kaiba's grip and he didn't want to hurt his feelings by doing that. _"What's wrong with me anyway?"_, Joey wondered. _"I had sex with him and that's way more than just holding hands, so why do I even care?"_

He looked along the street, unable to really enjoy the view in front of him and feeling like he should just run back home and hide. He wouldn't even care to have sex with Seto there, just not being out here holding his hand. That wish brought a thought to Joey's mind that he didn't really like. _"Maybe this feels so strange because I don't love him. I probably just like having sex with him. I probably should end this soon if it really is that way_._"_

Once they reached the car Joey watched Seto's face, a little smile was on it and it actually looked strange. Before today, Joey had never seen such a smile on the other's face. It wasn't like it was the first time Joey saw him smile. He had seen Seto smile smugly when he won at something, or even evilly when he planned to do something. Joey had even seen a soft and caring smile that was given to Mokuba as well as a longing and lustful smile, or rather grin, that had been on Kaiba's face earlier on the same day. But this smile wasn't like any smile Joey had ever seen before and he wasn't sure why it made Seto look so strange, nor what might be the cause of the smile. "What are ya thinking?" Joey asked while Seto opened a door for him.

Seto looked at Joey, still with the same strange smile on his face, "I'm wondering if you'll like our dinner tonight."

Joey watched Seto a moment before he silently got inside of the car, feeling even more strange that Seto was so gentleman like towards him. _"I'm no freaking lady,"_ he thought and pouted.

"Did something upset you?" Seto asked from the driver's seat.

"Yeah," Joey mumbled with a blush. "I can open my own damn doors. Ya don't have to treat me like a girl."

"You'll get used to it," Seto said nonchalantly with a shrug.

"And if I don't want to get used to it?" Joey asked, slightly upset that Seto obviously didn't care at all about his opinion on this specific matter. "Why do I have to get used to it anyway? Can't ya just quit that gentleman rubbish?"

"No, I can't," he answered. "You'll have to get used to it, and you will."

"Why?" Joey asked. "It ain't fair if only one of us tries to adapt to the other. At least try to ease up on that stuff, especially where someone can see us."

"You might have a point, but you'll still have to get used to it," Seto said with a smug smile. At least Joey knew that smile and why he had that smug look on his face. "I've never adapted to anything before and never will."

"You really are a jerk," Joey replied, even more angry and thought, _I really will have to get out of this and fast._

"Usually I would disagree, but under the circumstances I might be slightly inclined to agree," Seto answered. "But I'm not saying it because I'm mean and I have no intention of upsetting you with my actions, I say it simply because you're the one who can adapt much more easily. You're better at it."

Joey stared at him in disbelief and wondered when exactly hell had frozen over. Had Seto Kaiba just told him, Joey Wheeler, mister third rate duellist, the one he always looked down on, the street dog, that Joey was better at something then Mister superman? "What made ya say that?" Joey asked after a moment of shock.

"I'm simply stating a fact. I never adapted to anything really, so I have little to no practice at all at it," Seto pointed out again.

"That's a lie," Joey answered. "You adapted into our class."

"Wrong," Seto corrected. "I was forced to sit through it but never truly participated in any activities where my attendance wasn't a necessity to pass into the next grade, and I missed classes whenever it was possible. I didn't listen to the teacher either since I already knew everything the guy knew and then some and saw little to no reason to respect someone who knew less than I did and still tried to tutor me, which is why I cared reasonably little to what they ordered me to do and only worked a little more during my last term to reach a better report card so I could enter whatever college I wished if I ever would see a reason to do so at all. I'm also sure you'll agree that I did far less than the minimum on social, out of class activities and had little to no interactions to any of my class mates apart from you, Yugi and the rest of his cheerleader gang. And I only had that contact due to some really strange circumstances and the fact that Yugi mysteriously managed to beat me repeatedly, which unfortunately made it unavoidable to interact with Yugi at the very least. And the fact that I couldn't have one descent conversation with you even though I was in love with you back then makes it quiet clear to me that you can hardly call that adapting to anything."

"You adapted after getting adopted," Joey tried again after absorbing the information that Kaiba had obviously already been in love with him for quite some time and seemed to be even more emotionally disturbed than Joey had expected by now.

"I took over the company and drove the annoying bastard into suicide," Seto pointed out. "Are you sure that you're willing to even consider that adapting to the new environment?"

Joey thought for a moment again and then found the perfect way to prove that Seto could adapt, "You used to be a single child. I mean before Mokuba was born and you adapted to having a brother."

"I hated being a single child," Seto pointed out dryly. "I actually even swiped some hormones from our local pharmacy and secretly mixed it into some of my mother's food and drinks, aiming for a higher chance of getting a sibling, even risking that she might get multiple children at once and I was even secretly hoping for that. I wanted one sibling at least, so once again I changed my surroundings accordingly to my wishes instead of adapting to unchangeable surroundings."

"I guess ya ain't just a jerk," Joey said. "You're a selfish jerk."

Seto laughed. "But I haven't adapted to anything so far, so I fear you'll have to instead."

"And what if I don't?" Joey asked. "What if I don't have enough interest in you to change myself according to your wishes?"

"Then I change that fact and make you. I managed to get you to go on a date with me and I bet that if anyone had told you that a few weeks ago you would have laughed about it and bet against it, certain that it would never happen, and yet here you are in my car on the way to a date with me," Seto replied.

"I guess I need to add arrogant to the selfish jerk," Joey answered.

"Who cares?" Seto asked, "As long as you like me that way."

"Who said I do?" Joey asked.

Seto smiled his most smug smile and answered, "Your smile."

Joey froze for a moment, noticing just than that he really was smiling. It was fun to argue about things with Seto a little. Joey watched Seto a little longer. The smug smile slowly turning into the same smile that he had before, the one that made him look so different, softer even than when he watched Mokuba with pride. _"Is it arrogance that's making him smile that way? He is probably picturing all the different ways he could manipulate me further."_ Joey thought.

Seto didn't really look arrogant though and Joey knew how his arrogant triumphant smiles looked, and so he kept wondering about the reasons behind those smiles. But most of all he wondered why he felt so much more comfortable himself now that they where in Seto's car and playfully bickering with each other. _"Maybe it's not just the sex_._"_ Joey thought but wasn't sure about anything at the moment.

A little while later they reached the Kaiba mansion. "Did ya forget something?" Joey asked. He had expected that Kaiba would take him to a restaurant, maybe not too fancy with a dress code but still a nice and expensive place.

"No," Seto said grinning. "We just reached our goal."

"Wait," Joey pouted, "you just drove all the way to pick me up just to drive back here with me? Ya could have told me to come."

"Apart from the fact that you actually said that you're too lazy to walk and that I should pick you up, that wouldn't be very gentleman like," Seto replied.

"I hate gentlemen," Joey answered. "They waste fuel, destroy the environment **and** annoy the hell out of me."

Seto laughed, surprising Joey with the sound of it. It wasn't the first time he heard him laugh but it still was strange to hear him laugh genuinely amused and happy rather then evilly. Seto stopped the car right in front of the main entrance. Once they were out of the car someone walked over and got inside of the car to drive it away, obviously having a spare key.

"You don't pay someone to drive your car into the garage do ya?" Joey asked and stared after the car.

"Of course not," Seto answered. "He's also in charge of cleaning them, ensuring that they're always full when I want to drive one of them and to ensure that they're running and all the lights are working as well as ensuring that I never have to wait for the right car when I want to leave and walk out of the front door."

"Now we're at spoiled, arrogant, selfish jerk," Joey pointed out but grinned anyway and wondered how the hell that guy knew when he needed to drive what car to the front entrance. He wasn't really surprised though and considering that Seto worked very hard to earn his money he deserved to spoil himself a little.

Seto looked at Joey and answered, "I hope you appreciate the fact that you're the only one who gets away with saying such things to me."

"I'm surprised that ya haven't had to adapt to more people saying that," Joey said. "Because it's the truest thing I know and I'm really wondering why no one else calls ya that."

"Because they would regret it for the remainder of their, hopefully long but most certainly miserable, life," Seto answered calmly and walked inside of his mansion.

"I guess ya really ain't a jerk at all," Joey admitted and saw a surprised look on the other's face, which caused him to grin even more when he said, "Calling ya a jerk would still be a compliment, you're way worse."

"Do you want your food now or what?" Seto asked and held his hand towards Joey, completely ignoring the harsh comment and still smiling happily because no matter what Joey said he was there with him on a real date, and Seto didn't even need to black mail him into it.

Joey wondered for a moment if he should take Seto's hand again or not. It had been strange to do that before but they hadn't been alone that time so he decided to take it, and it was still strange but less uncomfortable than before. It felt just strange because Joey didn't usually hold someone's hand, but not because he didn't want to and definitely didn't feel like hiding or even getting his hand out of Seto's grip. It was okay-ish.

Seto led them out into the garden at the back of the mansion and the sight there was magnificent. There were lights all over the place in bushes and big lights were shining on a huge fountain, producing a little rainbow in the air. It wasn't completely dark yet but it still looked magnificent. The air was a little fresh to be outside but it wasn't too cold and Joey could see a fire lit in a big grill next to the table that was set for two persons. Unfortunately there was nothing on said grill and Seto had already said something about Italian food.

"Wow," was all Joey could say at first but then he added, "Not bad at all, a bit mushy maybe but still nice."

"The way you looked just now," Seto mused with a grin, "you clearly like it much more than just a 'not bad at all'."

Joey blushed a little and admitted, "Maybe, but you could top this."

"And how?" Seto asked. "And don't dare to say the word pizza is the answer; this is way better than some boring pizza."

"I didn't mean pizza, even though I would still prefer a good pizza over a nice place," Joey answered. "But what I meant was that it would be perfect if there was plenty of meat grilling over that fire-maybe some burgers or some huge stakes."

"Maybe there will be some grilled food at some time," Seto offered with a smile. "As long as you don't mind that there will be a few salads on the table and a few vegetables joining the meat too."

"I don't care what else might be there as long as there's plenty of meat for me," Joey answered.

"Would two pigs be sufficient?" Seto asked jokingly.

"Make that three," Joey answered, and Seto hoped that he was joking but he wasn't sure since Joey looked much too serious and hadn't sounded sarcastic at all. But then again, even Joey couldn't eat that much…could he?

Seto held out a chair for Joey, who just grinned at him and took the other to sit down in. He loved the upset look on Seto's face. "I'm not going to let ya get away from adapting a little that easily," Joey told him and grinned happily.

"Fine," Seto said, glaring towards Joey and sat down in the chair he had held out for Joey. "At least that means that you're already thinking about a longer relationship."

Joey blushed. Did he really imply it with that? He noticed too late that he probably was doing just that, at least a little. After thinking about it some more he wondered again why it was so strange to hold Seto's hand where someone might see it and thought that maybe he was just a bit more shy than he thought. But then again, Seto's maids saw them holding hands when they walked in and Joey hadn't cared at all. He also didn't care that the maid who poured some wine into his glass saw Seto take one of Joey's hands into his on the table.

Joey gave a sigh and was glad that the dinner was being served right now and distracting him from his own thoughts about his confusing feelings. He looked at the tortellini that were placed in front of him and that were covered with a nice looking mushroom sauce. Joey had his fork in his free hand in seconds and let go of Seto's hand to take his glass with the other. After he put the glass down again he let that hand drop onto his lap. He knew that it wasn't proper table manners to do so but he didn't really care about it. He just hoped that Seto wouldn't chide him like his mother always does when Serenity talks him into staying for dinner.

Joey eyed Seto and could see a disapproving and sort of disappointed look but at least he didn't say anything. Joey didn't want to hold his hand right now, not because it felt strange, but because Joey already noticed how he started to get used to being around Seto and felt like Seto was once again choosing the pace with which they advanced. He started to feel uncomfortable again with that thought in his mind and to top it off it was extremely quiet during dinner. All that was heard was some quiet music in the background and the sound the forks made on the plates.

* * *

Authors Note: Thanks to dancing elf, Sezthekitty, lolcari, LovelyRose5001, Latina shewolf, kitty tokyo uzumaki and Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai for the review.

Next chapter you'll see if Seto can manage to find something that will wake Joey's interest enough to maybe stay the night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Black out**

**Chapter 6**

Joey had finished his dinner much sooner than Seto had and now sat there silently waiting for him to be done and thought about going home already-he had no idea how to say it though. He only wanted to go because it felt awkward to just sit here with the great romantic background and knowing that Seto must have gone through some trouble and thought to get it organized this way, and in return he had nothing to say to him. They didn't have anything in common, at least nothing he could think of.

Unfortunately for Joey, Seto didn't give him a chance to leave. Once he had finished his dinner in silence Seto asked, "Would you like to watch a movie with me? You get to pick the movie."

"What movies do ya have?" Joey asked curiously.

"Every one imaginable of course," Seto answered with a smug smile.

"Why did I even ask?" Joey mumbled and thought about it for a moment before he grinned and chose a movie that was still brand new and just out in the cinema.

"No problem," Seto answered. "I managed to get it already of course."

"Why am I not surprised?" Joey grumbled. He really had wanted to make fun of Seto for not having every movie after boosting so much. But it looked like there was no point in trying that.

"Because I'm good, and you know it," Seto answered.

Joey rolled his eyes but allowed Seto to move an arm around his waist and lead him to a room with a big screen on one side of it and a comfy looking couch, not too close but not far either. In front of it was a little table with popcorn, tacos, dips, and different drinks on it. It obviously had been planned this way. Seto lead Joey to the couch before he walked to the huge home cinema system where he only had to find the right file with the touch screen. Joey started to eat some popcorn and tacos and felt Seto's arm around him a little later while he watched the movie quietly. The silence was less awkward now that they had the sound of the movie and it was only expected to be less chatty while watching a good movie, but after a moment Joey looked over to Seto and noticed that he wasn't really watching the movie at all. He read a book and Joey said, "You're going to ruin your eyes when reading with such bad lighting."

Seto looked up at him with a smile and answered, "Don't worry about my eyesight. This way we can at least be together and you enjoy your time."

"What are ya reading anyway?" Joey asked with a little blush.

"Don't you want to hear the movie?" Seto asked, raising one eyebrow in surprise.

"Do I get on your nerves with my questions?" Joey asked in return with a grin on his face.

"Not at all. I'm just worried that you'll complain about me distracting you from the movie later," Seto informed him.

"Ya couldn't distract me if ya wanted to," Joey replied and saw Seto's eyes look lustful for a moment. He already regretted that statement since Seto might get tempted to prove him wrong by making out with him. Joey knew that he had to distract Seto from that fast and asked, "So what book is it?"

"Alyssa's Ring," Seto answered. "You probably don't know anything about it."

"Oh I do. I've already read it and I love it, even though I prefer the second one from the guardian cycle. I just loved The Jasper Forest because I love Ysatel. It's just a pity that she didn't get a bigger role in the story, but at least she reappeared in Alyssa's Ring for a little in the end."

"You read?" Seto asked, surprised. The book hadn't been made into a movie so Joey couldn't know it from that.

"Sure, but none of my friends do so I never talk about it that much."

"What is your favorite book?" Seto asked curiously.

"Well the guardian cycle is already one of my favorite series of books, but I also like The Sevenwaters Trilogy and the Symphony of Ages."

"I fear I don't know the second one yet. I do know the last one, but find the Symphony of Ages a little girly."

"Maybe because it's a lot from Rhapsody's point of view, but I love Grunthor," Joey informed him. "He's the main reason I read the whole lot."

"I prefer Achmed," Seto informed him, "and I find it a pity that Rhapsody prefers Ashe over him, but it doesn't surprise me at all. She acts foolishly all the time so it was predictable that she would choose the wrong one."

"He's cool," Joey admitted, "But Jo rocks even more. Too bad that she died."

"I rather think that she was useless and bothersome, and Rhapsody was foolish to ever let her get so close to them. She should just have left the girl behind. To be honest I don't even get why Elizabeth Hayden put that character in it. Sure she played a vital role, but with a few minor modifications it would have been possible to create the storyline without Jo," Seto pointed out.

Joey watched him for a moment and then laughed. "Now I know why ya like Achmed so much-he's rational. You're exactly the same as he is."

Seto looked at Joey for a moment and then added, "But there is one big difference. I've got good looks too."

Joey laughed, "Yeah and ya got a bigger ego to go with it."

They talked about the books a little longer and the movie was soon all but forgotten. Seto was surprised that Joey liked reading and loved it that they had something in common. Seto found out that Joey only read fantasy books and a few others, but he didn't like autobiographies while Seto loved all kind of books and owned a wide range of books. He had a huge library and not even a quarter of the books related to his business at all. After a while Seto showed said library to Joey, who looked at the books and even wanted to borrow some of them-which Seto happily allowed him to do. After all, Joey would have to come over and return them at some point.

Joey on the other hand couldn't believe that he actually had something in common with Seto. He had a lot of books that Joey had read too, and he liked most of Joey's favorite ones. He even wanted to buy The Sevenwaters Trilogy and Joey hoped that he would let him borrow the newer ones after he's done with them. But even more surprising was the fact that Joey actually had enjoyed talking to Seto about those books. It had been a comfortable and nice chat and Joey felt completely at ease the whole time.

After settling down in a comfortable corner of the library and talking some more about the books it didn't take long until Seto noticed that it sometimes took awhile for Joey to answer and he saw the amber eyes closing at times just before they suddenly opened again for a moment, and Joey would finally speak a sentence or two again. It didn't take long until the eyes stayed close and a quiet snore came from the blonde's mouth. Seto watched his sleeping face for a moment and wondered if he should wake him and drive him home seeing that Joey had made it clear that he wanted to take it slow, but then again Seto hadn't forced him to stay the night.

Seto carefully picked Joey up and carried him up to a spare room next to his own. He wanted to at least show Joey that he could accept his choice if he felt like it. Seto put Joey down on a big bed and carefully removed his shoes to make sure that he would have it a little more comfortable. He also snuck Joey's mobile out, certain that Mai would call him eventually considering that Seto had ended a phone call between them earlier in the evening and Seto didn't want to risk her waking Joey and talking him into going home in the middle of the night. After that Seto pulled the covers over Joey and went into his own room where he got ready for bed himself. Knowing Joey there would be little risk of him waking up without a cause, and if he did wake up and try to leave Seto's alarm would alert him to it.

It was nearly 2 in the morning when Seto heard Joey's phone ring. He picked it up, certain that Mai would call over and over again until someone picked up. "Hello Mai," Seto answered, grinning smugly and feeling wide-awake even though he had already been asleep.

"Kaiba?" She asked, surprised. "Is Joey still with you? And why are you answering his phone?"

"Joey fell asleep, and I would like to ask you not to wake him by phoning him again in the middle of the night," Seto requested.

"I doubt that it's any of your business when I call my pal," Mai pointed out, slightly annoyed.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait until tomorrow to talk to him though. He's asleep," Seto reminded her.

"How come he's still with you?" she asked.

"I told you," Seto answered, sounding annoyed, "he fell asleep."

"So you just cuddled up with him or what?" Mai asked, clearly angry. "You better be careful what you do with my Joey. You already pushed your limits way too much."

"It's up to him to decide that," Seto pointed out. "But no, I'm not cuddled up to him tonight. I am capable of controlling myself. He's in his own bed in the room next to mine."

"I hope you really brought him into a guest room because if you keep messing with him I'm going to kick your ass the next time I'm over," Mai warned.

"I doubt that you'll be capable to even touch me," Seto replied calmly. "Which is quit useful considering that he isn't in a guest room. But before you worry again, he isn't in mine either. He is in his room, which is next to mine, like I said."

"Since when does he have a room at your place?" Mai asked.

"Since I'm prepared for Plan B," Seto answered with a grin.

"And what would that be?" she asked worriedly.

"That is none of your business," Seto replied. "And since I still might need to use that if he doesn't get used to me while dating me, I won't tell you. After all I can't have you warning him."

"If you hurt my best friend," Mai threatened, "I'm going to make your life a living hell."

"I doubt that you can do that," Seto mused, "because there is only one thing that could turn my life into a living hell."

"And what would that be?" Mai asked.

"Considering that I don't fear you being able to do anything against me anyway, I'll tell you," Seto replied. "The only thing that could turn my life into a living hell would be to keep Joey away from me, which is why I won't let him get away. I made him consider me as a partner even though a few weeks ago he would have laughed at anyone who even considered that possibility. I made him marry me and stay the night out of his own free will. And I will make him fall in love with me so much that he can't live without me anymore."

"What if you can't?" Mai asked, suddenly much more worried about Joey then she had been before.

"That won't happen," Seto answered, sounding very sure of himself. "I never lose." And before Mai can say another word to the calculated man, he ended the call.

Mai looked at the phone and just hoped that Joey would be all right. Seto sounded much more determined and calculated than she had thought possible and Joey might be easily manipulated considering that he had feelings for him.

After ending the call Seto stared at the phone. It felt a little like the previous day was just a dream. _"I'm being ridicules,"_ he thought. _"Of course it wasn't a dream. Of course I could get a brainless mutt to stay the night, and I'm even holding his phone to prove it."_But no matter how convincing his own thoughts were, he couldn't shake the feeling that Joey couldn't possibly be sleeping in the room right next to his. Maybe because Joey wasn't really brainless. On the contrary, he might even be smarter in some areas.

Seto knew that Joey could never keep up with him in school or business, but Seto feared that he couldn't keep up with Joey on the streets in the long run. For a while he could fake it but he wasn't nearly as strong as everyone believed. If he had to live the life Joey had without a loving and caring sibling around and just a father who was a drunk that at times hardly recognised his own son, Seto would probably have killed himself.

The only reason that he had been able to go through the whole situation at the orphanage and later to live with Gozaburo and the constant pressure he had at work, was his little brother. Seto had wanted to die on more then one occasion and only the fact that Mokuba needed him and believed in him had kept him alive. It had forced Seto to stay strong and to not even show his weakness to anyone. Seto had learned to hide his insecurities and his emotional problems behind a mask, one that was hiding nearly all his emotions, and by now Seto was so used to it that hardly anyone could just read his emotions even when Seto didn't want to hide them.

But Joey had been through a lot too. A drunken father, a mother who had chosen to leave him, a sister he hardly ever saw and was loosing her eyesight. And like that hadn't been enough, he had been on the streets so often that he got in touch with the wrong kind of friends and been dragged into a gang by them. But Joey had somehow found the strength to leave said gang and turn his life around. He had a bit of help from his friends, that much was clear, but he still had to fight for it himself too. Seto wasn't sure if he could have done the same and still be as happy go lucky as Joey, or rather he was sure that he wouldn't have been able to do that, at least not without Mokuba for support, and not without turning as cold as he had through the troubles in his own past.

Seto thought about this all while trying to convince himself that nothing in the world could stop him from winning Joey's heart. But the fear that Joey himself might stop him, forced Seto to his feet. He had to see the blond, at least for a moment, and if just to convince himself further that he had already succeeded in getting Joey to sleep in the bed he had gotten just for him.

Seto walked over to the room where Joey lay on dark satin bed sheets covered with equally dark satin covers under a canopy with black satin, which looked like the wings of four dragons flying upwards at each corner of the bed and reaching nearly all the way to the ceiling which was colored like the walls to make the room look like the sky during sunset. The shapes of black dragons flying across the sky where printed along the walls, while the carped looked like the sand on a clean and sunny beach. It was probably a little too much black, but Seto hoped that Joey loved it anyway even though he wasn't quite as over the top into his dragon as Seto was with his Blue Eyes.

Seto walked closer, noticing that the covers where mostly down and Joey's back was exposed all the way to just above his hot ass. Seto slowly reached out with his hands until his fingers touched the little tattoo on Joey's naked skin. He smiled at the soft feeling of Joey's skin under his fingers and was happy that nothing had triggered his security system to go off, yet Joey was undressed. He must have been awake at some point, but instead of trying to make a run for it, he had chosen to stay.

"Please Joey…don't ever leave me alone," Seto whispered longingly and was glad that no one was there to hear how insecure he sounded in that moment.

What Seto didn't know was that those whispered words caused Joey's heart to beat overtime while he stayed motionless on the bed he was on until he heard Seto leave the room and close the door behind him. Joey sat up in bad and stared at the closed door, _"I never thought that even the great Kaiba could sound insecure at times."_And after noticing the insecurity in Seto's voice, Joey couldn't help but wonder what else he was hiding behind his always present, emotionless mask.

* * *

Authors Note: LovelyRose5001, Sezthekitty, lolcari, Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai and CuteDogs for the reviews.

Next chapter you'll see what happens the next morning when a very confused little puppy get's a lift to work from his dragon just to run into Tristan right after Seto left but still with a dark blush in the poor pups face. I give you a hint, Tristan want's to have some answers.


	7. Chapter 7

**Black out**

**Chapter 7**

Joey slowly got dressed. It was still dark but he had to go to work in a little while and assumed that Seto was already awake. He didn't seem to be the kind that would sleep in, especially since he probably had tons of work to get done. Joey walked slowly out of his room and looked along the hallway, wondering where he should go. He had no idea how he had gotten to that room or where in the huge mansion he was exactly. He just knew from a look towards his watch that he was running a little late to get to work and would never make it in time if he didn't hurry now.

He gave a sigh and started to slowly walk to one side along the hall. It had to lead him somewhere, and if not he could still turn around. After walking along the hallway he finally found some stairs and walked down. He knew from the view from the room he had been sleeping in that he had to get down one floor. Once there he saw a huge hall and a few doors going from it and gave a sigh. Once more he had no idea where he had to go to get out of here. He looked at his watch again and frowned. He would have to leave the books he wanted to borrow because he'd never make it to work on time if he walked home first and that meant he couldn't change either.

"Did you get lost?" Joey turned to the voice of Seto Kaiba and smiled, happy to see him.

"Moneybags!" Joey said without thinking, but sort of regretted it after seeing Seto's death glare. "Geez, chill out. I'm just used to calling ya that."

"I see," he said, but still looked pissed. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"I'd love to have some grub," Joey pointed out. "But I'm running late for work so I gotta go."

"You could just quit and stay with me," Seto suggested but didn't sound very hopeful.

"Yah right," Joey said sarcastically. "Like that'll ever happen. I'll keep working no matter what. I want to be able to at least pay stuff for myself and not depend on someone, especially not someone who would definitely use it if I did."

"What makes you think I would do such a thing?" Seto asked innocently.

"Considering how I got those tattoos and how ya got me to marry ya, you so would use that too," Joey pointed out. "And now, how the hell will I get out of here? I really need to go."

"If I'm as bad as you think, maybe I won't show you the way," Seto suggested.

"No you will show me the way," Joey said with a big triumphant grin on his face. "Because sooner or later I will get out of here and if you're too mean to me I won't stay married to ya."

Seto looked at him for a moment and then smile, "Seems like my mutt is smarter than I thought."

"I'm no freaking mutt ya jerk!" Joey screamed, raising his fists in anger. He wasn't really angry though, it was just that it was always like this between them and he felt much more comfortable that way than when Seto's used his questionable flirting talents on him.

"Maybe," Seto replied calmly. "But you if you call me moneybags just because you're used to it, I get to call you mutt since I'm used to it as well."

"You're still a jerk," Joey answered, relaxing his fists and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"And you're still the only one who gets away with calling me that," Seto pointed out with a much more gentle smile than Joey was used seeing on him.

Joey looked at his watch again. "Ahhhh! I'm going to be late! I need to run!"

"Come with me," Seto answered with a sigh. "I'll give you a ride."

Joey looked at Seto, who already started to leave for a second but then just walked after him, hoping to get a lift to work. He wasn't disappointed with that hope. Seto went to get a car key from a hook in the hall close to the stairs and then he walked towards the front entrance, which wasn't far away. By the time they left the car that was probably matching the key arrived in front of them and the man Joey had seen the previous day got out, bowing before Kaiba who just ignored him and opened the passenger door.

"Just get your ass in that damned car," Joey said, pulling the door out of Kaiba's grip and standing next to the car until Kaiba gave a sigh and started to walk around. Once Seto opened his own door Joey got inside of the fancy car and closed the door himself with a grin on his face and happy to see the glare on Kaiba's face. "Did ya really think I would make it that easy for you?" he asked after a moment.

"Not really," Seto answered, the intensity of the glare slightly decreasing. "But considering how easy it was to marry you I had started to hope that it might be a little easier to tame your stubbornness."

"Guess ya were wrong," Joey answered, still happy that he could annoy Kaiba a little. "I'm not usually as easily tamed as when I'm drunk and hungry."

"That doesn't mean that I'm going to give up," Seto answered with the same strange smile Joey had seen the day before, and once again Joey wondered what made him smile that way. It was soft and he sort of looked…content. Slowly it dawned on Joey why he might look that way. He was content. He was absolutely and completely happy that Joey was with him and bickering a little. Not like over the moon happy, like if someone might win a million dollar lottery, but happy like someone who truly had everything he ever dreamed to have.

Joey smiled at that little revelation and the fact that little unimportant him was the reason that the cold hearted Seto Kaiba smiled in such a way, absolutely dropping his emotionless mask whenever that smile found it's way to his face. The smug smile, the evil laughter, it all had always looked like a façade, like it was just part of a role he played, and the insecurity that had been in his voice during that night made it all the more likely that he really was just playing a role most of the time.

"I never thought ya would," Joey answered, smiling happily towards the brunet. "Neither did I say that I want ya to stop."

Seto looked over at Joey briefly before he had to refocus onto the traffic but his smile stayed where it was, happy and content at the fact that Joey seemed to be so much more at ease around him than he had during their dinner the previous night. "I'm glad to hear that," Seto mumbled.

Joey wasn't surprised when they reached his work place even though Seto hadn't asked where he worked at all. That guy had him 'followed for his own protection' just to use him the next best chance he got and even snuck the keys to his apartment to duplicate them. It was obvious to Joey that Seto knew exactly where he worked and he wouldn't even be surprised if he had a hand in that business by now, or at least full knowledge of his working hours and schedule for the next month. "Thanks for the ride," Joey said once Seto stopped the car.

"Will I see you later?" Seto asked, and Joey was surprised to hear a tiny bit of hesitation in his voice.

"I still got those books at your place, so I will at least stop by to pick them up if ya don't mind," Joey answered "But I could do that tomorrow if you're busy tonight."

"No," Seto said quickly and smiled again. "I got time. I could pick you up after work."

"Thanks," Joey answered. "But I got to go home first, have a shower and get changed. But ya could give me my phone back so I can call Mai and apologize for your rudeness yesterday."

"I wasn't rude," Seto pointed out but passed him his mobile phone. "You where rude to let me wait and I remedied that fact by removing the disturbance."

"Wow," Joey said sarcastically. "She's so gonna love hearing that. And what did ya do last night? I bet she tried calling me."

"I simply informed her that you fell asleep earlier on and that she should kindly refer from waking you with another late night call," Seto answered.

"Sure," Joey said with a grin. "I can't wait to hear from her how ya did that. But I really should be going or I'll be in trouble. Thanks again for the ride and I'll see ya later."

"Bye," Seto said in reply but held onto Joey's arm for a moment and pulled him closer to give him a short kiss on his lips. "I'll miss you."

Joey blushed but then mumbled, "Later," and nearly ran away with a dark blush on his face. _"For fuck's sake how on earth does he do that?"_ Joey wondered _"I had sex with that jerk and slept in his mansion last night, never mind the fact that we're technically married, so how on earth can he make me this flustered with a simple peck on the lips?"_

Joey knew the answer though. The sex was good and hot but it had started off with him getting so hot that he didn't think about anything really. But that kiss and the hypnotic look in his blue eyes when he said his goodbye was so intimate and caring that it was so much more than just having sex with each other. It somehow meant more when he said those words to him because they where so unexpected.

Sure Seto was hot, rich and powerful and could probably fuck around with at least half of Domino City if he wanted to, and for all Joey knew he might have done that, but Seto would never say something so sweet and caring to anyone unless that person really meant something to him. Those little words coming from Seto Kaiba revealed so much more of his emotions than the heated fuck in his office, and that was the reason why he was so flustered.

Joey slowly got ready for work when Tristan appeared behind him. "Hey pal, how are things?"

"Good," Joey said and couldn't help but blush again a little at the thought of what might happen if Tristan found out where he'd spent the previous night. The fact that Tristan had seen Joey with a guy in front of his apartment once didn't help. Usually it was nice to have a friend live in the apartment block just across the street, but when you try to start a relationship said friend will probably never understand, it might get embarrassing. Joey suddenly realized that he would have to tell Tristan soon, if he'd been five minutes earlier he would have seen Joey leave Seto's car.

"Your alright?" Tristan asked. "You look nervous and you're all red in the face."

"I'm fine," Joey replied, wondering when he should tell Tristan and more importantly what. He could hardly look at him and say "_Oh by the way I'm letting Kaiba screw me._" That would turn into one fun conversation. And considering that they worked at a destruction company, and due to that Tristan had easy excess to explosives, Seto's company or mansion might not be standing much longer if Joey told Tristan about that right now.

"Okay," Tristan said and held Joey's arm. "What's on your mind, because it isn't nothing."

Joey looked at him for a moment and thought for of what he should say to get Tristan off his back, at least for a moment. "I'm just thinking about something," he said after a moment, already knowing what information he might be able to pass to him safely.

"And what is that something?" Tristan asked. "Is everything all right with Serenity."

"She's fine I guess," Joey said. "At least I haven't heard otherwise since the last time I saw her."

"Then what is it?" Tristan asked, looking at Joey questioningly and worriedly.

"I just found out that the little KC tattoo isn't the only surprise I got from that black out the other night," Joey answered, blushing even more.

"And what is the other surprise?" Tristan asked worriedly.

"A bigger tattoo," Joey answered. "But I'm so not gonna show ya. Trust me ya don't want to see that part of my body, and anyway the tattoo isn't so important. I'm just wondering how I didn't notice anything sooner."

"And how do you think you can figure out what happened or rather with whom?" Tristan asked curiously.

"I'm sure something will come up and give me a hint." Joey answered.

"What kind of tattoo is it?" Tristan asked curiously after a moment.

"You don't wanna know," Joey answered hoping to get him off his case.

"That embarrassing?" Tristan asked, grinning.

"Let's put it this way, it's safe for us to go out for a drink because I'm not gonna flirt or try to screw a guy I meet there until I got rid of that one," Joey answered "And trust me, that one is the first to go."

"Wow," Tristan said. "It must be bad if ya even prefer the KC. I mean that is for Kaiba."

"Oh really?" Joey replied sarcastically. "I never would have guessed. And now lets go blow something up. I need to get some stuff out of my system."

"That's exactly why I love this job," Tristan informed Joey with a grin.

"So do I," Joey said and grinned back at his best friend and thought that going out for a drink might be a good way to tell Tristan about his new boyfriend. Maybe Tristan would go easy if he's slightly drunk, or rather so far gone that he'll forget about it without being able to complain that Joey didn't tell him afterwards. _"Man don't be a cowered,"_Joey thought. He knew that it was wrong to get Tristan drunk before telling him and that he should just spill it already. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so strange the next time he held Seto's hand someplace where Tristan might see it. And by now Joey was sure that the fact that Tristan might see it was the only reason it had felt so strange. Why else should he only feel uncomfortable with it when he's on the streets and not at Seto's place where the maids might see them?

"You're sure that is all?" Tristan asked and Joey looked up at him noticing that he had just walked right past the place they had been headed for.

"Yeah," Joey said with a blush. "It's just… I don't know… I guess I didn't get enough sleep last night."

Joey noticed the worried look on his friends face but was happy that he didn't ask anything else for now and left Joey to his thoughts while they worked more silently than they ever had. Neither one said a word 'til well past noon. It was Tristan who broke the silence, unable to stand his friend's silence any longer.

"Hey Joey," He said nervously, and obviously certain that Joey wouldn't give him the whole truth if he asked for it. He clearly hadn't told him all that was on his mind that morning. "How about we go for a drink tonight?"

"Sounds good," Joey answered. "What time?"

"We could go right after work," Tristan suggested. "You know, like we usually do on some Fridays, to the nice little Irish pub that's on our way home."

"Sound's great," Joey said even though it was a Monday and they usually didn't go drinking during the week. "But I need to pick something up from someplace."

"And what from where?" Tristan asked.

Joey blushed and thought about it for a moment before he decided to tell the truth. It was safe enough for the moment and he probably should tell Tristan the whole story once they were at the pub anyway. The atmosphere there was usually very relaxed and Joey hoped that it would make it easier to tell Tristan about Seto. "I need to go to Kaiba's place to pick up some books he promised to let me borrow."

"You're kidding," Tristan said while his jaw had a sudden date with the floor. "You're going to KAIBA'S. And you want some stupid books? Why in hell would you do that?"

"I told ya before that I like to read some books and he happens to have some that I been wanting to read for a while now," Joey answered and could feel the heat in his cheeks from the additional blood. "I happened to talk to him about something yesterday and we somehow started to talk about books and he's read some I read too, and well he's got so many great books."

Tristan still stared at him in shock for a few moments, unable to find his voice before he managed to ask. "You talked…to Kaiba…and instead of fighting each other you two just happened to talk about…books? Who are you and what did you do to my pal?"

"Very funny," Joey mumbled. "It's not that strange, I mean we both talked to Kaiba before. We went to school together and not to mention saved the world. I mean that might not mean that much to ya since ya weren't as involved as I was with the dueling and all, but ya where there too so ya should know how much I owe him."

Now Tristan was truly shocked and unable to say a word while Joey's face took the darkest red yet and then prepared everything for the detonation of the building they were scheduled to take down today. Tristan couldn't believe what he heard and it took him nearly half an hour until he managed to say "How about I walk with you to Kaiba's place and then we go to the pub?"

Joey looked at him for a moment in thought and then said, "Fine, why not," hoping that they wouldn't start fighting before they reached the calm and relaxed atmosphere of the pub to talk it over in peace.

* * *

thanks to Sezthekitty, LovelyRose5001, Latina shewolf, Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai, lolcari and dancing elf for the reviews.

I guess you all can guess that's going to happen next right? Tristan is going along to Seto's place and then Joey will tell him everything, including his new name.


	8. Chapter 8

**Black out**

**Chapter 8**

Joey walked silently next to Tristan, who eyed him curiously every two seconds with an expression like he expected Joey to turn into an alien at any moment. Never before in his life had Joey felt so uncomfortable in the company of his friend and hoped that it wouldn't stay that way. He didn't want to lose Tristan, especially not over Seto Kaiba. Once they reached the huge gates to the mansion Joey asked quietly, "Could ya wait here while I go in to pick up the books?"

"Why?" Tristan asked, surprised.

"Can we talk about this later? Maybe over a beer?" Joey asked. "Just please give me a moment."

"Fine," Tristan said and watched while Joey walked towards the main entrance, leaning against the metal of the high fence.

Joey rang the bell and was surprised to see that Kaiba opened the door seconds later. "I guess you aren't staying," Kaiba asked sounding upset and looked over to where Tristan leaned against his fence.

"Sorry, I'm kinda busy," Joey answered, trying to sound nonchalant. "I'm going to a pub with Tristan for an after work beer. I just came by to ask if I can take the books I wanted to borrow. I might get around to reading a little after that."

"They're right here," Seto answered. "Come in."

Joey eyed him for a moment but then walked past him, feeling Seto's hand go towards his own back and nearly putting his arm around his shoulders and touching the little tattoo to guide him inside. The books where neatly packed inside a shopping bag on a small table close to the door and Seto didn't bother to close the door while guiding Joey just to the side of it and out of Tristan's sight.

"I missed you," he whispered into Joey's ear once Joey reached the books and reached out to grab the bag. He felt Seto's arm move further around him and further down to hold him from behind around his waist and Seto's warm moist lips soon touched his heated skin just below his ear.

"Don't," Joey mumbled. "Tristan is waiting."

"Let him wait a moment," Seto whispered seductively. "After all he has no idea where the books are."

"He won't wait long though," Joey mumbled and was certain that he already assumed Seto to be the cause for Joey's strange mood all day and would probably follow shortly if Joey didn't reappear in the door, and since said door was still open he could just walk right in on them.

"He won't need to wait long," Seto whispered, kissing along the soft skin of Joey's neck towards the collar of his shirt and moved it a little to the side to reveal one of the many bite marks Joey had from the love making on his desk at the office the day before. "Just one kiss."

Joey couldn't help but turn around in Seto's arm and kiss those soft and moist lips and he moaned quietly when he felt Seto's teeth nibble gently on his bottom lip. Soon he could feel Seto's talented tongue exploring the inside of his mouth again and moved his own arms around Seto to hold onto him tightly, enjoying the sensation and completely forgetting about Tristan-who already started to get worried and walked up to the main entrance of the mansion.

Joey felt Seto's hand move along the dragon tattoo just beneath his own ass and gave another moan that was slightly muffled by Seto's lips on his own. Slowly Seto's lips moved closer to Joey's ear and once they where close Joey heard him whisper seductively, "I'll miss you, so come back soon." And then Joey feld Seto grab his wrist and was spun halfway around so he stood with his side towards Seto and his arm, the one Seto held onto, was stretched towards the bag with the books. Behind the bag with the books and hidden from the entrance by a big vase with flowers was a monitor on which Joey could see the gate, which was abandoned and he just about still saw Tristan walk the last of the steps up to the main entrance.

"And make sure to keep the books in perfect condition," Seto said in his usual icy voice the same second Tristan entered the mansion and must have been able to see them.

Joey stared at the screen while Tristan shouted, "Hey you jerk, let go of my pal this instant!"

"Your part time job Tris, did you have to go there yesterday?" Joey asked still staring at the screen and remembering how Seto had nearly rushed him towards his date. He had thought at first it had been due to a reservation and later due to the fact that their food might be getting cold or even more likely that he was getting impatient. But right now, looking at the screen and knowing that without Seto's actions Tristan would have seen them kissing, he thought that there might have been another reason for Seto to end the call with Mai than his lack of patience. He must know that Tristan and the rest of the gang apart from Mai had no idea about his growing emotions for the cold CEO.

"Yeah," Tristan answered, surprised. "Why are you asking?"

Joey smiled and said, "I'll explain later." He turned to smile towards Seto, "And ya don't need to worry about your books. I'll just leave them and come back later to read them here. That nice black bed is way more comfy than mine anyways," Joey walked over to a still surprised Tristan before he turned around to look at an equally surprised looking Seto and added, "And Mai might be right, ya really do need a place in a mental institution." And then Joey grabbed Tristan by his wrist and pulled him along towards the pub, he clearly wouldn't get around some honest answers now and Tristan looked too shocked to move on his own account.

They were nearly at the pup before Tristan found his voice saying, "I guess that jerk isn't the only one who needs a mental check up."

"Probably," Joey mused. "Considering that I must have completely lost it."

"At least you notice that much," Tristan pointed out, sounding worried. "So what's going on that I missed. I mean you go to him to borrow books and then leave them, and on top of it he's mean to you and then you just smile and ask me about if I went to my part time job last night? I really don't get it."

"I bet you don't," Joey mumbled. "To be honest, I'm not sure if I do get everything but I bet he knew. I mean that ya had to work last night and I assume ya did 'til about 7 right?"

"Yeah," Tristan answered. "Like every second Sunday, but what does it have to do with Kaiba? And why on earth should he know or even care about it?"

"Trust me, he knew," Joey mumbled with a stifled laugh. "But I think ya need a beer before I explain and shock ya with it, if one beer is even enough."

"I'm starting to doubt it," Tristan answered but just watched Joey's face. There was a small smile on his face, not the super happy 'I got a great new car' smile but the 'I had a really good day' sort of smile that clearly said that he hoped every day would be that way. He just looked absolutely content and Tristan knew that whatever had changed between Joey and Seto, there was no way to change it back and that's what really worried him.

Once they where in the pub and both had a beer they sat down in a more quiet corner than usual and Tristan said. "Now spill it, what's going on between you and Kaiba."

Joey looked at his beer for a moment considering briefly how he should start to explain and then said quietly, "Do ya remember what I told ya about the black out I had, the night before Mai left after her last visit?"

"Yeah," Tristan answered "The one where you got the tattoo. Don't tell me you really ended up in bed with Kaiba that night."

"Firstly, it's tattoos, like I said, I got another one. I got his stupid white dragon right under my butt," Joey said to enlighten him on why that one was so much more embarrassing to him. "And secondly, yes I'm afraid I did end up with him, but I didn't lie the time we talked about it at the beach. I hadn't known then."

"I see," Tristan said and looked very pale and disgusted but didn't say anything negative about it. Considering the happy and content smile on Joey's face he worried that it would just make Joey angry if he did. "I still think the dragon is better than the KC. At least you can get a tattoo artist to make that white black, and since red is a darker color than blue you can probably fix the eyes too."

Joey stared at him for a moment in surprise, he had been expecting some grossed out comments or even insults for the CEO but nothing of the sorts. He grinned even more after pondering Tristan's comment and then said, "The body and head are different anyway, but I might still do that just to annoy Kaiba. Thanks for the tip."

"That isn't all, is it?" Tristan asked after a moment. "I mean if it was just one little one-night-stand while you two where drunk, you wouldn't be hovering around his place and borrowing books."

"He wasn't," Joey said dryly.

"He wasn't what?" Tristan asked.

"He wasn't drunk," Joey explained. "He was absolutely sober when he talked me into getting the tattoos, got one of a dog on his ass, screwed me around while I was totally wasted, and talked me into marrying him right away for a breakfast and a bed since I was too far gone to open my own door."

Tristan stared at Joey for what felt like an eternity until he screeched "He did what?"

"He married me," Joey repeated, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks and worrying about Tristan's reaction to that casually thrown, but vital, piece of information and passed his new passport to Tristan. "That's how I found out. I got his surname in my new passport."

Tristan stared and tried fruitlessly to make sense of those words while Joey sipped on his beer every now and then, fighting the urge to push Tristan to finally say something. Anything would be fine right now but the shocked look on his face and silence that stretched on even longer than it had before was driving him crazy. After what felt like at least 30 minutes Joey got out his phone and sent Mai a text massage saying, 'I'm just talking to Tristan and telling him about me dating Kaiba.'

It didn't take long until he had his reply from the blond.

'And you got time to text me? How long did he stay silent?'

Joey looked at his already half empty beer 'For about half a beer.'

'So much for not getting drunk again,' came Mai's reply and Joey felt slightly better while Tristan simply stared at him over his own, nearly untouched, beer.

'It's my first, and I don't intend to go for seconds, but I'm starting to worry that I need to call for an ambulance or something. I think Tristan needs some drugs to get out of the shock.'

'While you wait for him to come around, please explain to me why you stayed the night at Kaiba's? I thought you were taking it slow and yet you already got your own room at his mansion?' Mai asked shortly after Joey had sent the last message.

'I got what? I honestly thought it was a guest room, but it does explain why the room reminded me of my dragon. It's really cool, ya gotta see it,' Joey answered.

"You're a Kaiba," came a mumbled voice from Tristan and Joey looked up at his shocked face.

'I think Tris is starting to get around, I call ya later,' Joey quickly messaged Mai.

In the meantime Tristan turned around looking towards one of the girls behind the bar and said louder, "I need a whisky, and make it a double one," then he turned back to Joey looked at him for half a second and turned around again. "Make that two."

"I'm fine with just a beer." Joey pointed out having just been reminded by Mai that he didn't want to get drunk again, especially not with Kaiba probably still following his every move.

"That's good," Tristan answered. "I wasn't planning on sharing those."

"Sorry for the shock," Joey told him quietly before having another sip of his beer, needing to calm his thoughts. "But I doubt that there would have been an easier way to break the news to you. It's shocking no matter how I wrap it up."

"You're a Kaiba," Tristan mumbled for the second time that evening.

"I'm afraid I am," Joey said. "But I'd prefer it if ya ain't calling me that since I never really agreed to be one. At least not while I was sober."

"Are you going to get it annulled?" Tristan asked, sounding hopeful.

"Not right away," Joey answered with a frown. "It might be a huge mistake and I'll probably regret it, but I got curious how it would be to actually date the jerk and…well he can be nice too and just has a really twisted way to show his affection. Well to make it short, I already had one date with him, and that's why the books where still at his place after talking about them last night. If I'd brought them home after leaving Kaiba's place, I'd have been late for work."

"You mean you stayed the night?" Tristan asked clearly grossed out about it and was happy when the whisky arrived and he drank both of them right after each other.

"I sort of fell asleep, but I didn't sleep in the same bed if that calms you a little," Joey pointed out.

"At least that's something," Tristan mumbled "I mean if you really like him I'll try to get used to that, but does it have to be KAIBA?"

"I don't know yet," Joey answered. "I mean he absolutely used the fact that I was wasted just so he could marry me, which he mainly did to blackmail me into dating him, wanting a chance and knowing that his chances for that where slim to none without something to give him the advantage."

"And you still consider dating him?" Tristan asked, clearly angered "If I were you I'd beat him up big time, and to be honest I really thought you would too."

"A few weeks ago I would have gone for that," Joey answered with a grin. "Or rather I'd have swiped some of the explosives from work and blown up his mansion."

"That sounds great," Tristan answered. "Need some help getting everyone out of that place?"

"Like I said," Joey said, feeling the heat in his cheeks increase. "That would have been a few weeks ago-not anymore."

"What changed?" Tristan asked curiously.

"I noticed some things," Joey answered. "Or rather he told me a few things and then I noticed some more."

"And what would those things be?" Tristan asked. "Because I fail to see anything good about that jerk apart from his money."

"And his body," Joey pointed out.

"Well I fail to see that too," Tristan mumbled, clearly grossed out.

"Sorry," Joey said, grinning. "But what I mean is he explained to me that he likes dogs and from what he said he had intended the mutt comments to be a slightly hidden compliment, probably too shy to make it more clear, and even that third rate duelist comment was supposed to be a compliment since a lot of people are still much worse than me in dueling. And I noticed that we like the same sort of books, well he likes even more than I do but he likes the ones I do too. And on top of that he knows how far he can go."

"He more or less raped you since you were drunk, Joey," Tristan pointed out. "I'd say that is definitely crossing a line."

"He made sure you didn't walk in on us making out just now and yesterday he made sure you wouldn't see us leave for the date too," Joey explained. "That's the line he couldn't cross."

"I don't get it," Tristan admitted. "You just told me so why was keeping it secret more important than not raping you?"

"It does sound strange when you put it that way," Joey said. "But he had me watched, supposedly to make sure no one would use me when I'm drunk, but because of that he must have know that I had something with guys before. He knew that I didn't mind it too much when I was drunk and hardly knew them, I mean I was single and I bet you had your fair share of girls…"

"I get it, just stop with the details," Tristan begged.

"Sorry," Joey grinned again. "Anyway, he knew that I wouldn't be too grossed out at the thought of having sex with someone while being drunk because it wouldn't really feel that much like rape, and it really didn't. I mean I didn't even remember and it wasn't like I didn't want to do it while I was drunk."

"How do you know that?" Tristan asked. "You were drunk. You don't remember right?"

"I could feel it," Joey answered. "Trust me you feel it if a guy forced ya or not. But about keeping it a secret, I don't want it to be a secret, but I want to be the one to tell you guys. Or would you have preferred to walk in on me and Seto making out?"

Tristan shuddered at the thought, "That would be a definite no."

"I thought so," Joey answered with a grin. "And I didn't want that either. I don't want ya to feel like I didn't want ya to know and that ya had to catch me to find out, and I guess he figured it out."

"Oh I get it," Tristan said suddenly. "That's why you asked about my job. He must have made sure to be gone with you by the time I got back right? Probably being a little pushy?"

"Right," Joey answered. "He even cut off Mai on the phone."

"Wait," Tristan said, sounding outraged. "Mai knew before me?"

"Well she sort of gave me the advice to date him for a while before I choose to either stay with him or get out of it," Joey answered. "And honestly would you have wanted to have a talk about guys with me? It would probably have the same result as a talk about girls with me. That's why you've started to always hang around Duke isn't it?"

"Well…yeah," Tristan admitted. "But it's still weird that you talked to Mai before you talked to me. You're my best friend."

"And you're mine," Joey answered. "Which is why you know before Yugi or any of the others do, apart from Mai. So don't tell them 'til I get a good chance for a talk with them too."

"Fine," Tristan answered. "But does it really have to be Kaiba?"

* * *

Authors note: Thanks to LovelyRose5001, Sezthekitty, Leviathan of the Sea and dancing elf for the reviews.

Next chapter you'll get a bit more of Puppy time since it's about the same night but after Joey ended up with Seto again, after all he wanted to go and read there in the big bed he has at Seto's place, the only question left is: "Will Joey have time to read and will he get into his own bed rather then Seto's?


	9. Chapter 9

**Black out**

**Chapter 9**

"_Does it really have to be Kaiba?"_ Joey wondered and looked next to him to the sleeping brunet with a sigh. _"How did I get caught up in his pace _**_again_**_?"_But the answer to that was easy. Kaiba simply had to kiss him and he had completely lost it and not long after that he was in Kaiba's bed. He hadn't even gotten around to talking to him about his manipulations behind his back. Sure it was nice that he made sure his friends wouldn't walk in on them before Joey got to talk to them, but he would have preferred it if Kaiba would have TOLD him about that. He could have said "Don't talk to Mai for too long or Tristan will see us leave" the night before, or he could have talked to Joey about the monitor and just stopped kissing instead of yanking him around by his arm and being a dick.

Joey watched Kaiba's face a little longer, wondering how a jerk like him could look so peaceful and innocent while he slept. He moved a little closer trying to cuddle up to him without waking him up. He felt Kaiba's arms move around him and heard him sigh in his sleep once he got a little closer. It felt really nice to be in his arms, cuddled against his strong chest. Until now Joey wouldn't have guessed how well he fitted into his arms. His head was lying on one of his shoulders and his body curved along Seto's, fitting perfectly. Joey was nearly asleep when he heard Kaiba murmur something in his sleep. He probably would have found it really cute to find out that the great and powerful Seto Kaiba talked in his sleep but the words made him rather angry at Kaiba.

"My little puppy," he murmured.

"_I'm no damned puppy!"_Joey thought. _"Dog or mutt is bad enough, but PUPPY? What does he take me for?"_ Joey was close to waking Kaiba and kicking his ass for it, but while looking up into Kaiba's innocent face while he slept he chose to wait 'til the next morning to wake him and yell at him. "Sweet dreams," Joey whispered instead and just closed his eyes, falling asleep quickly in the comfortable embrace. It was much later that night when he woke up from the ring of his mobile phone.

Joey eyes stayed closed while he moved his hand along the covers of the bed towards the ring. After only a second he heard Seto's voice "Do you always have to phone him in the middle of the night? He's asleep."

"And do you have to steal my phone every freaking night? I need that or I'll sleep in again," Joey mumbled and opened one eye just enough to see his phone in Seto's hand and took it from the brunet. "Hey Mai," he said once he had the phone at his ear.

"Hey Joey," Mai asked, sounding cheerful. "I thought your going to take it slow? So how come that even though you already have your own room at his place you're in his bed?"

Joey knew that if he wouldn't be so tired he would blush, but right now he didn't really care and yawned before he answered, "Shit happens."

"Nice way to put it," Mai said with a chuckle "I hope he didn't get what you're talking about or he might get mad."

Joey eyed Seto, noticing his confused look, and was unbelievably happy that he only heard his side of the conversation. "How should he get it? He can't hear ya can he?" Joey said with a grin and rubbed his eyes. "Better question is, how did ya know about my room?"

"He mentioned it when I tried to phone you last night," Mai explained.

"I bet he was a jerk," Joey said.

"And the jerk is trying to sleep so quit the call," Seto said, clearly upset. He didn't really care to hear Joey's voice but he didn't like the fact that he was clearly talking to Mai about him and he didn't know Mai's replies.

"No problem," Joey said with another yawn. "Where is my room then? I'll just sleep there and then I can talk as much as I want to."

"Just forget it," Seto mumbled angrily. The thought of Joey leaving the room displeased him even more than having to wonder what his sentences meant.

Joey watched his face for a moment and then gave a sigh, "Listen Mai, I promise I call ya tomorrow right after work before I go see Kaiba okay?"

"Great," Mai chuckled. "Now you even do what he wants."

"I don't do this because of Kaiba," Joey answered, angry at himself that he wasn't tired enough to avoid a blush any more. "I'm simply tired and need to work tomorrow, so I need to sleep now."

"Fine," Mai answered. "But if you don't call, and with plenty of time, I'll call you in the middle of the night again and trust me, this time I won't quit annoying you until I got some juicy news."

"Then let's say I ring ya when I got time and ya can call me back," Joey suggested with a sigh. "I called ya too often during the last couple of days and I'm broke."

"Get Kaiba to pay the phone bill," Mai suggested.

"I'm not a gold digger," Joey replied. "I ain't asking him for money."

"Fine have it your way," Mai sighed. "But I can't keep calling you all the time either. So either get some money out of him, or get a laptop so we can chat online."

"How the hell am I suppose to save money for that when I talk to ya all the time on my phone?" Joey asked. "And let's talk about that tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night Joey," Mai said. "And do nothing with Kaiba boy that I wouldn't do."

Joey just ended the call hoping that meant he wasn't supposed to do anything because he most certainly didn't want to picture her drooling after his boyfriend.

"You're done talking to her?" Seto asked, still sounding upset.

"For now," Joey answered.

"What was that about money?" Seto asked and looked at Joey curiously.

"That was… None of your fucking business," Joey answered with a grin and gave him a short kiss on his lips. He looked too adorable to resist with the upset look on his face. "And now good night." Joey turned around hoping that he wouldn't get tempted to do more than that little kiss as long as he didn't have to see Kaiba and then he closed his eyes, feeling his heart race just because he knew that he was layin in Kaiba's bed right now.

The fact that Kaiba started to move behind him did little to calm his racing heart. He felt a little like the prey for an extremely scary and dangerous creature, but what the worst part about it was that it exited him greatly to be Kaiba's prey. He felt Kaiba's arm move around his waist while his lips brushed the little KC tattoo on his back before he moved his face higher and his nose moved along Joey's hair. Joey could hear Kaiba inhale deeply and blushed even more while Kaiba's arm was holding him tightly around the waist by now.

"By the way," Joey mumbled, hoping to change the mood and stop Kaiba in his tracks. He really didn't want to make it easy for him. "I'm no puppy."

"I don't recall ever saying that you are one," Kaiba replied in a seductive whisper.

"Not while ya were awake," Joey agreed. "But ya talk in ya sleep and said 'My little Puppy.' Before I fell asleep."

"I don't talk in my sleep," Kaiba insisted, and Joey was pleased to notice that he clearly wasn't trying to sound seductive at all.

Joey turned around and grinned, "Ya do, but it's really cute to watch ya sleep. Ya look as innocent as a little baby, and then the mumbled sound of ya voice makes it even more adorable."

"I'm not adorable," Seto answered, still clearly upset and looked at him for a moment before he gave a sigh. "Just try to sleep, you got work tomorrow."

Joey looked at him for a moment longer but then cuddled up to him feeling Seto's arms tighten around him. "Before I forget it," Joey said in a quiet voice. "Ya can't hold onto me unless I let ya, so quit pulling strings behind my back and tell me if ya trying to do something. Like making sure that Tristan wouldn't walk in on us and stuff."

"I thought you'd prefer to talk to him instead of him walking in on us," Kaiba explained.

"I know," Joey answered. "And I did prefer that, but I want to know when ya worry about things like that. I want to be in on it when ya end a call with Mai just so we can be gone before Tristan is back too. That way I don't have to think that ya simply a pushy jerk."

Seto didn't answer for so long that Joey was sure he wouldn't answer at all. It was quiet in the dark room and Joey was still curled up against Seto's body. He could feel that Seto was still awake though because one of his hands stroked gently through Joey's blond hair while the other arm simply held Joey close to his body. The movement of Seto's hand in his hair was so relaxing that Joey was nearly asleep when he heard the quiet voice of Seto say, "I will have to be able to hold onto you, because no matter what I can't let you go." Joey felt Seto's face move closer to his own hair and heard him inhale deeply again before he added, "I simply can't lose you again."

"Then quit being a jerk," Joey mumbled half asleep, feeling Seto's body stiffen slightly. But the next thing he remembered was the alarm on his phone going off. Joey looked around the room and saw Seto on a comforter with his laptop on his legs and already dressed.

"Good morning," he said with a smile. "I hope you slept well."

"Sure," Joey yawned and rubbed his eyes just before he looked at the time and got up to grab his clothing. He looked at them and then at the time again before he asked, "Can I get a ride home? I think I need a shower and I can't show up at work in the same outfit again."

"Of course," Seto answered. "You can have a ride to wherever you please. But you could have a shower here and I'm sure I can organize something that will fit you too. That way you'd have enough time for breakfast before I give you a ride to work."

"I doubt that your pants will fit me," Joey answered, eyeing Seto wearily.

Seto stood up and left the room for a moment just to return with a pair of black jeans and an equally black shirt with a red dragon tattoo print. "That should fit though."

Joey eyed the outfit and asked, "Where did ya get that?"

"From your room," Seto answered. "My private detective, the one who was following you for your own protection, got some stuff that you tried on recently but didn't buy. I hope you still like some of them and just left them for financial reasons."

"Ya bought me some outfits without having a clue if I like them?" Joey asked, surprised. "I mean ya didn't even know if I'd accept them or if you'd ever get a chance to give them to me. For all ya knew I might have kicked ya ass after finding out that I'm technically married."

"Just take them and go have a shower," Seto ordered with a slight blush, "or would you really prefer to skip breakfast."

"Me, skipping free food?" Joey asked and grabbed the pants and shirt. "Never, but I need something to wear under the pants."

"What for?" Seto asked with an evil grin on his face. "It will just be bothersome when I undress you tonight."

Now it was Joey's turn to blush, "I guess I really need to stay at my place again. Ya getting to cocky," Joey pointed out and eyed Seto curiously for another moment. "Since when are ya getting all that stuff anyway? I mean the bed in the other room too. Ya can't really deny that ya got it just for me."

"I got it a while ago," Seto answered. "I thought I might need it."

"Let me guess," Joey muttered. "Plan B?"

"Did Mai say something?" Seto asked, surprised.

"Does she know something?" Joey asked, surprised since she hadn't said anything specific about it yet.

"Not really," Seto replied and watched Joey's reaction. "At least nothing you don't seem to know."

"That wasn't knowing," Joey replied with a grin. "It was a lucky guess. I'm really starting to get how ya brain works."

Seto smiled at him and then just asked, "Would you like some breakfast before work now or not? Because if you do, you should hurry up and get under the shower."

"I still don't have boxers," Joey pointed out, "and I ain't going without just so ya can get off on it."

Seto stood, got some of his own out and said, "They should do for today. I'll make sure to get you some of your own."

"And here I thought ya already had everything I could need," Joey said with a grin. "But ya gonna get this stuff back. I ain't keeping it."

"Why not?" Seto asked. "Apart from the boxers, I can't use it anyway."

"But if I keep all the stuff ya got me," Joey explained with a soft and caring smile towards Seto, "I won't have anything here the next time I stay over." And then he disappeared into Seto's bathroom to have a quick shower, enjoying the feeling of the hot water on his skin and trying to forget the fact that Seto was just in the other room and probably over the moon with joy since Joey more or less promised to be over more often.

Once Joey left the bathroom, dressed and styled, the breakfast was already standing on a small table and Joey sat down and devoured it quickly after a short glance towards the time. Even with getting a ride he was getting slightly late. He clearly was chatting around with Kaiba way too much. Once he was done he said, "I guess I need to hurry now."

"Seems like it," Seto answered. "Will I see you again later?"

"Sorry. I don't have time," Joey answered. "I got to go over to my place and do a bit of cleaning and washing. But we can go out over the weekend again if ya want to."

"Of course," Seto replied, looking slightly upset. "You could come here today though. I could send some maids over to your place and get it cleaned."

"I like my privacy, and anyways what's the point in having my own place if I ain't getting to see it?" Joey asked him and smiled a little. "I need to go home every now and then at least Seto. Go easy and give me some time would ya."

Seto gave a sigh but replied, "Fine. I just wanted to offer it."

* * *

Authors Note: Thanks to LovelyRose5001, Sezthekitty and Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai for the review.

Next chapter Joey will see the rest of the gang and his sister.


	10. Chapter 10

**Black out**

**Chapter 10**

"Finally," Tristan said, brushing off some dust from his shirt. "I thought this week would never end."

"It wasn't that bad," Joey said with a grin. Of course the day had been a bit rougher than usual. A building needed to be taken down and it was attached to the buildings next to it and already nearly halfway broken down. They had needed to be careful to avoid getting crushed by the building before destroying it bit by bit. But Joey wouldn't say that all week had been bad, especially since he once again had shown up to work in a nice limousine courtesy of Kaiba, who insisted that Joey's way to work would be too far if he stayed at his place. But Joey was sure that he simply wanted Joey to himself for a few more moments.

"Not that bad?" Tristan asked. "Maybe not if you're grinning from one ear to the other since getting dropped off in a huge black limousine. Never thought Kaiba could make you that disgustingly happy. And I swear that if you ever tell me how he's doing it, I'll kill ya."

"Trust me, a while back I wouldn't have believed he could do it either," Joey said, grinning to his friend. "But now, stop looking so down. We'll be with Yugi and the rest of the gang soon and can have some fun together. And the best part…it's finally the weekend so you can get drunk."

"Finally! I can't wait to see Yugi and Duke and the rest," Tristan answered. "You haven't been the best company recently, always busy doing stuff with Kaiba."

"Oh come on," Joey blushed. "I've just been going out with him for a little over a week and only seen him seven nights. That's hardly any reasons for complains."

He hadn't intended to be with Kaiba during the week again, especially not that often, but Seto had been 'driving by' his workplace by coincidence and asked if Joey wanted a ride somewhere. Of course that ride had ended in Seto's huge bed after going to watch a movie, going for dinner, or just having a drink somewhere. Joey knew that Tristan was right though, he hadn't spend as much time with his best friend as he used to. They would always hang out a little after work since neither one had anything better to do unless they met up with the whole gang, but now Joey had been more at Kaiba's place than at his own.

"And you're married to him," Tristan replied in a slightly joking tone. "Which I still find really hard to believe. I mean we're talking about Kaiba here, man. I don't get how you can live with yourself dating that jerk."

"So do I," Joey answered and looked at his friend, who grinned at him slightly mockingly, happy that Tristan didn't really seem to mind who Joey was dating all that much. "I mean I don't even remember it and I most certainly don't really count it. If you ask me I'm dating him and that's it. At least I don't remember agreeing to anything else."

"But you are still married Joey," Tristan pointed out. "Even if you refuse to acknowledge it to him, you are married. You'll have to think about what you'll do about it eventually."

"I know," Joey said and looked down for a moment before he looked back up with a grin. "But today ain't eventually."

Tristan had to laugh about his friend's reaction, "That's so you."

Joey grinned at Tristan and both talked some more about work and other things until they were nearly at Yugi's place. Joey was glad to get his mind away from a certain CEO, who seemed to be occupying said mind recently.

Once they where close Tristan brought the topic back up though, "Does Yugi and the others know about you and Kaiba?"

"Not yet," Joey answered. "I've still got to find the right moment to tell them. And to be honest, I haven't seen either of them in a while. Not since the trip to the beach."

"How come?" Tristan asked. "You used to hang around the shop nearly every Saturday at least, sometimes even some evenings during the week-especially when I was out on a date."

"Then it just would have been Saturday's," Joey said with a laugh and felt Tristan's fist collide with his shoulder and felt himself being pushed to the side a little. He laughed even more after that. "But apart from that," Joey added, a little more serious but still with a grin on his face, "I guess I was busy for a while and had my mind elsewhere after…finding out some shocking news."

"Like I said," Tristan mused with a grin, "you haven't been the best company lately. Even before you got together with Kaiba, the news about being married really must have knocked you out of your socks."

Joey just kept grinning when he said cheerfully, "Well I'm here now and I fully intend to completely forget about Seto for tonight."

"So you won't tell the others today?" Tristan asked.

"Okay," Joey admitted. "I might start about him briefly, but you're probably right, I don't really want to think about him today, never mind talk, so I might not tell them just yet."

"You do know that we'll be behind you anyway, right?" Tristan asked. "I mean, I'm still not happy that it had to be Kaiba, but at least you're smiling. And no matter how much I hate the jerk, I owe him for that."

"Thanks pal," Joey answered with a grin. "But ya don't really owe him anything, but if ya want to pay him back give him a good kick in the ass if ya get around to it. He definitely deserves that for using the fact that I was totally wasted."

"How about you distract him the next time he picks you up and I sneak up from behind?" Tristan offered.

"Great plan," Joey laughed. "And ya know what? It might have it's advantages to date the jerk, it'll be way easier to distract him for me now."

A little later Tristan and Joey arrived together at Yugi's place, still in the same outfit they had on at work. Duke was already there and he wasn't the only one. Serenity had arrived earlier today and spent the day with Téa, waiting for her older brother to have time to spend with her. It was one of the reasons why they all met on that day, or rather their current excuse to see each other again. When she hugged Joey, happy to see him again, she whispered, "Mai told me you got a second tattoo?"

Joey just blushed and ignored it for the moment while Yugi asked Serenity for how long she'd be staying in town.

"Unfortunately just the weekend, but I'm bringing a surprise guest. Téa is the only one who knows and only because she caught me on the phone with him," Serenity said with a pout. She had hoped to surprise everyone with the news. "I might even stay with him tonight, unless Joey offers."

"Me offer? I demand that ya stay with me. I'm not going to let my baby sister stay with some guy, especially since I have no idea who he is," Joey immediately said and added, in the hope that she wouldn't talk about Kaiba or the second tattoo in front of the others, "And that way we can talk some more…in private you know."

"Who is the guy?" Tristan asked, curious and jealous.

"I told you," Serenity answered with an innocent smile, "A surprise."

Téa helped Serenity to distract the others in the group from the mystery guy while Joey was happy that Serenity didn't say a word about tattoos at all. Unfortunate he couldn't get too much on her case about the guy since she might return that favor then. In the end they all mostly talked about the good old times. It sort of felt like their really old talking like that, but it still was a lot of fun to talk about those times. A time where they all had been in high school and saved the world with the pharaoh, some of them losing their soul in the process once or in Tristan's case, his body. Joey couldn't believe how much fun it was to talk about little monkey Tristan instead of thinking about being married to Kaiba.

It was already past ten when Yugi suddenly said, "Would you guys mind if I turn on the TV? I wanted to see an interview about a new gaming system that's due to come out soon."

"What are ya waiting for?" Joey asked, happy that he might be able to find out about a new game in a few moments. He had been so occupied with a certain CEO that he hadn't heard about it at all. "Turn it on already."

Yugi turned it on but had the volume muted until it would start. "Great, I was worried I might miss it," Duke said cheerfully. "I'm recording it though just to be sure."

"I thought you might," Yugi answered. Duke had a game shop like him, just that Duke's was a lot bigger than his little shop. It was his grandfather's old one but half a year back Yugi got it from his Gramps because Solomon wanted to retire, or rather he wanted to travel Egypt more often and was sick of the shop holding him back and needed to get rid of it. Unfortunately for the old man, Solomon's only son, Yugi's father, had no interest in games or the game shop at all and that's why Yugi was now the proud owner of the Kama Game shop. "I'm recording it too, but I can't really wait 'til later."

Tristan rolled his eyes and Yugi turned the volume up a little once Seto Kaiba walked into the screenshot. _"I should have known."_ Joey thought and fought a groan back while he noticed Tristan's knowing look towards him-he probably thought the same as Joey did. _"I just can't hide away from that guy."_

Joey tried to listen to what Kaiba said about the new gaming system and heard Yugi and Duke talk about it to each other quietly as well, but the sound of Kaiba's voice brought back some memories of his whispers and moans from the previous nights and turned into a huge distraction.

The interview on screen about the new system went on for about half an hour and once the woman who interviewed Kaiba asked, "May I ask you a question that is a little more private, one that I'm sure our viewers will love to hear answered?"

Joey saw Yugi take the remote and heard him mumble, "I doubt that we need to hear the rest."

When the woman said, without really waiting for Kaiba's response, "According to our researches you've married a little while ago."

Everyone in the room froze, everyone but Tristan who looked instantly towards a shocked looking Joey. "How come Mokuba didn't tell me?" Yugi said after a moment, "I've talked to him two days ago."

Everyone still stared at the screen where Seto Kaiba just glared towards the woman. "And do your researches tell you to whom?" he asked after what felt like ages to Joey.

"Unfortunately we haven't been able to find that out just yet," she said and Joey was relived. He didn't really want the majority of his friends to hear the news from the TV, especially not while he was right next to them and could have said something before the damned TV had been turned on.

"That's good," Seto said and grinned towards her. "Because for now I'd rather not have my husband's name revealed."

"Husband?" she asked. "You've married a man?"

Everyone stared at the screen and Yugi whined, still with the remote in his hand, "How come Mokuba didn't tell me. He could have told me something like that. We're friends and I thought friends say such things. How come Kaiba didn't tell us himself?"

"Maybe he had his reasons," Joey murmured with a blush. If Yugi was that outraged that Mokuba hadn't mentioned that his brother was married, he sure as hell would be that Joey hadn't said anything sooner.

"If it had been a woman I'd have said wife, so of course it's a man," Seto answered still glaring at her. "But I fail to see why that is anyone else's business."

"Well people are curious mister Kaiba. I'm sure you've noticed that before, considering your position," she answered with a sweet smile and was simply ignoring Seto's glare towards herself. "May I ask if you prefer men over women? Or don't you really mind either way."

"I can hardly stop you from asking me anymore privet question," Seto answered. "But you can't force me to answer either, so I'd advise you to stop them. You know more than enough already. I'm married to a man ,which clearly shows that I love him, after all we're married, and everything else should be of no interest to you."

Joey blushed so hard that he feared everyone in the room would notice that something was up and he couldn't fight the happy smile Kaiba's confession brought to his face. He was slightly disappointed though, he had often wondered since when exactly Kaiba had an interest in him and how many other men or women he might have had in his life before, especially since Seto probably could have had multiple ones at the same time considering his power and wealth. The fact that he didn't look half bad was a plus too and Joey knew all too well that he wasn't bad in bed either. Joey hadn't really dared to raise the topic with him yet since he had no idea if Seto had a great deal of experience or not. He probably could have a lot of people but since he liked his privacy he mightn't, and Joey didn't want to look inexperienced or like a slut if he was asked about his sexual experience in return so he had kept quit.

"Will you tell us if this is the fist real relationship you had?" The woman asked, still ignoring the death glare. "I've never heard about you having a relationship before. But then again we haven't heard about the current one so far either and you're already married. How long have you two been together and how did you manage to keep this from all of your fans for so long?"

"Once again, it isn't really your business so stop pestering me about the topic," Seto answered, glaring at her even worse, and Joey noticed that her hands where shaking a little. Still she tried to stay smiling at him politely and not showing her fear in front of the camera. Joey nearly pitied her, of course she could just quit getting on Kaiba's nerves with those private questions, but then again it was her job. "And before you even try getting on my nerves with anything else, I refuse to answer anymore private questions and if you keep asking them I will leave."

Yugi put the remote to the side with the words, "I'm so going to phone Mokuba. I've got know this."

"Who cares? I bet it won't last anyway," Tristan said much to Joey's relief. At least one person was trying to defuse the situation. "Kaiba won't tell who his husband is, so for all we know the poor guy was blackmailed into spending time with such a jerk. And who cares anyway, it's not like that guy is our friend."

"But he helped us so often, how can you say that he isn't our friend. And I bet Seto wouldn't blackmail someone he loves," Yugi said, outraged.

"I wouldn't say that," Joey pointed out, remembering how Seto had actually planned to use the marriage as blackmail for dates and he was sure that if Seto had something else to blackmail Joey with, he would use it to force Joey to move in with him right away for sure.

"We'll see," Yugi said and got his phone out. "I bet this guy is really nice and they probably have a good reason not to say it right now. I'm just happy for Seto that he isn't alone anymore. I mean since Mokuba moved away to take charge of the business oversees he must have been incredibly lonely."

"I bet there's a reason," Tristan mumbled with a glance to Joey. "Maybe the poor guy didn't even know that he was married at the start because he was wasted at the time, and once he found out he was too shocked to tell anyone."

"I agree, you got to be drunk to marry a jerk like him," Téa agreed and Joey suddenly felt Serenity's eyes on himself. She knew about both tattoos and if Mai had told her that the second one was Seto's dragon in such an intimate place, she might get that it's just the way Tristan just said and that Joey is the mystery husband.

"I wouldn't say that," Duke thought out loud. "It might be some gold digging guy who's mainly after Kaiba's money. It would explain why no one knew about them beforehand, the guy might have rushed Kaiba."

"Since when have you been in love with your secret husband?" the woman on screen asked.

While Kaiba silently glared at her for a moment Joey heard the peep on Yugi's phone, it was on speaker so they all could hear what Mokuba would answer once he picked up.

Seto just kept glaring at her silently and then just moved away again and before the woman could say anything else Yugi had it turned off, probably to be able to talk with Mokuba without too many background noises.

Joey was just happy that Seto hadn't said anything that might cause his friends to figure out that he's his husband.

"Hey Yugi," was heard from the phone. "How are you?"

"Why didn't you tell me that Seto married?" Yugi asked right away. "Who is the lucky guy?"

It was quiet for a moment. "He isn't married." Mokuba answered sounding confused, "What made you think he is?"

"He just confirmed it on TV," Yugi replied, sounding just as confused as Mokuba did now. "He had an interview and they had found out that he was married but not to whom and now they talked about it until he got sick of her interference with his privacy."

"He is married?" Mokuba asked and Joey blushed even more. He hadn't even thought about the fact that his brand new brother-in-law had no idea about this. "He can't be!… How dare he, not telling me-his only brother-that he married! How dare he marry without me being there! He better have a damn good excuse or he'll regret it."

"He does have a reason," Joey interrupted. He knew that his friends wouldn't shut up about it now. His night without having to think about the jerk was already ruined, so he might as well tell them, especially since Mokuba deserved to get an answer and hopefully one that would prevent the two brothers from fighting. Joey really didn't want to risk their relationship. "Kaiba didn't know if his husband would stay married to him when they got married. Because, like Tristan knew, I really **was** wasted, and with how I was wasted I couldn't even open my freaking door and didn't know about all the other surprises that accompanied the damned tattoos until a little while ago and then I freaked and I made him stay quiet about it further because I still have no clue what I should do."

It was quiet for a moment until Mokuba asked incredulously, "Was that Joey's voice?"

"Yes," Yugi's voice was hardly audible in his surprise. "And I guess he's your brother-in-law now."

"Only temporarily," Joey insisted even though he feared that it would be more permanent, considering that he had been talked into staying the night as often as he had. "At least, maybe temporarily."

"Maybe?" Duke asked. "You'll only **maybe** be temporarily married to Kaiba?"

"He's getting it annulled, aren't you Joey?" Téa asked. "You can't seriously stay married to Kaiba."

"I don't know right now okay?" Joey answered with a blush. "I mean I only recently found out that I didn't only get a tattoo, no I got two of them and he got one as well. Never mind the fact that the guy I'd been with that night with the black out was Seto fucking Kaiba. And like that isn't enough of a surprise after one tiny little black out, now I'm married and a freaking Kaiba myself. That's kind of a lot to think about and I don't know."

It was quiet while Joey took a deep breath before he added a little more calmly than before, "I think he really loves me and he can be nice…if he really wants to be. He has proven that…kind of."

It was quiet again until Yugi asked Tristan, "And you knew?"

"Not for long either, and more or less only because Joey was so confused that he couldn't keep it from anyone at the time," Tristan explained. "I'm not surprised he didn't tell anyone. He doesn't even know what he wants right now. Kaiba is pulling his strings like Joey's a puppet and Joey even likes it. You should see how he grins when Kaiba picks him up from work and drops him off the next morning. Honestly I never thought Kaiba could make anyone that happy, especially not Joey, but somehow he does."

Joey was happy that Tristan stood beside him even though he hated Kaiba just as much as he used to. It was sort of scary though that it looked like Kaiba was manipulating him, at least it seemed to look like it to Tristan and Joey wasn't completely sure if he was right or not. It didn't feel like he really was manipulated, but Joey wouldn't put it past Kaiba to try, and he was sure that Kaiba could manipulate him to a point and probably knew how much he could get away with without Joey even noticing it.

"Wait," Téa said. "Kaiba is dropping him off the next MORNING? You mean like as in Joey's staying the night? Joey please tell me you're not letting him screw you, that's disgusting!"

"Hey," Mokuba's voice said over the phone, "could you please sort out the parts involving my brother's sex life when I'm not listening in? I really don't want to hear about my brother sleeping with my friend. And anyway I don't think Seto would really pull Joey's strings like he's a puppet. I mean, I'm not saying he isn't the type to do that-because he is-but even Seto couldn't do it. Joey is just way too stubborn. I think he is the only one to ever talk back to him and he is also the only one who can really surprise Seto. I know for a fact that Joey is the only one who doesn't shiver under his death glare at all, and I'll never forget how surprised he was when Joey battled Marik as well as he did."

"That wasn't the last time he was surprised," Joey said with a wicked grin and slight blush right when the door bell rang, but he just kept talking hoping that once the visitor was there the topic would change as long as their curiosity could be satisfied with it. "He looked like I was a ghost when I told him that I wouldn't mind dating him. He actually married me while I was wasted enough to talk me into it just so he could blackmail me into dating him. He thought I never would go on a date with him otherwise and really wanted me to give him a chance."

"Considering that you're dating him right now. I guess he could have gotten that easier," Duke said while Yugi walked towards the door without actually leaving the room and waiting in the doorway to the hall. He didn't want to miss anything and he didn't want anyone to interrupt right now.

"I guess the tattoo would nearly have been enough, and the fact that he was nice enough to get me great breakfast the morning after the black out," Joey said, leaving out the fact that said breakfast was payment. "But to be honest, if he hadn't done something along those lines as he did, I wouldn't have considered it ever."

"But you love him now…don't you?" Mokuba asked, sounding worried while the doorbell rang again.

"I like him," Joey replied honestly. "I really do like him a lot, but I'm not sure if it can work out with us. He's still such a jerk."

"He isn't really that bad," Mokuba said protectively of his brother, hoping to help him a little with his relationship. "But I guess he could have tried a different approach. I'll have to talk to him about it I guess."

"Don't worry kiddo," Joey answered. "I'm fine so leave him be. I actually think that he really knows me and knows how far he can go."

Everyone looked at Joey in surprise until he added with a blush, "I'm not saying that it was right what he did. I know that it wasn't but I still think that he knew that I could cope with it and wouldn't be too distraught. And Yugi you should open the door I bet who ever is out there is starting to freeze to death."

"Thanks Joey," Mokuba said over the phone. "It actually isn't all that cold but I really would love to see you all instead of just hearing you guys."

* * *

Thanks to LovelyRose5001, lolcari, Sezthekitty, Latina shewolf and dancing elf for the reviews.

And next chapter will be the last one. In it you'll all see how used Joey got to Seto being a possessive jerk because he'll show up at Yugi's to get him back to the mansion. :P


	11. Chapter 11

**Black out**

**Chapter 11**

"Mokuba," Tristan said, as surprised as everyone else was to see Mokuba standing in front of them. They hadn't seen him since he had gone over seas. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm surprising you and later my brother," Mokuba said and walked inside to sit next to Serenity, who was the only one still in her seat.

"Hey Moki," Serenity said, giving him a hug and a quick kiss on the lips.

"Hold your horses," Joey suddenly said. "What was that?"

"That was a kiss," Serenity answered and a dark blush spread over her. "And considering that you're married you should know that."

"You're dating Mokuba?" Joey asked. "You're really dating a Kaiba?"

"You are one," Serenity pointed out.

Mokuba just chuckled and added, "She's right…big brother."

Joey took a deep breath, "At least ya got the nicer Kaiba." Joey glared over to Mokuba, certain that it was pointless since Mokuba had grown up with Kaiba's deathly glare of doom, and added with a somehow dangerous looking smile, "Fine date her, but if ya hurt her, I'll kill ya."

"Got it," Mokuba answered calmly with a happy smile. He had nothing to worry about since he had no intention of ever hurting her. "But hey Joey, since you're my bother-in-law, shouldn't you tell her not to hurt me too?"

"Very funny," Joey grumbled. "I never agreed to marry your brother so it doesn't count."

"I bet he'll have a different opinion on that matter," Mokuba answered and would make damn sure to talk to his brother later on. But for now he looked towards Serenity and asked, "So, are you going to stay with me at the mansion?"

"She's staying with me," Joey answered for her.

"Doesn't that mean the mansion?" Mokuba asked with a cheeky grin. "After all you're married to Seto and Tristan said that he's dropping you off at work in the mornings."

"I never moved in," Joey answered.

"But you must have stayed there at least six out of eight nights," Tristan said recalling how often Joey had been dropped of by Kaiba and how rarely he had walked back home with him during the last couple of days.

"I rest my case," Mokuba laughed. "So are we all going to the mansion tonight or what?"

"I wouldn't mind, Joey," Serenity offered. "I don't want to interfere in the newly wedded couple's private time."

"Just forget about it!" Joey nearly growled. "If it was just Mokuba I might consider it, and I hope you're hearing the strong emphasis on might here, but I'm sure as hell not letting my sweet little innocent sister stay anywhere near Kaiba."

"So I'm going to be alone at your place?" Serenity asked chuckling. "After all I could call you Kaiba now."

"Quit making fun of me," Joey glared at her. "You know perfectly well what I mean."

"Sorry Joey," Serenity apologized and hugged her older brother while looking up at him innocently. "I just wanted to lighten the mood because I really, really would like to stay at least one night of my life in such a great looking mansion and at least I would have you with me for protection."

"Nice try," Joey answered, "but ya doggy eyes ain't working on me."

"Oh come one Joey," Serenity said. "I just want to stay there once in my life and I would have you there for protection right? Seto Kaiba can't do a thing while my big, strong brother is around."

Mokuba stood up and seated himself again on Joey's other side, cuddling to him just like Serenity did and looked up in the same way, "Please just let Serenity stay at the mansion. Please Joey, I promise to be a good boy even when we're back home in our apartment."

"Hold on!" Joey shouted outraged. "What did ya mean with 'our apartment'?"

"Well," Serenity blushed a little but smiled happily when she answered, "that's why we both wanted to come over. I've been living with Mokuba for a few months now and he asked me to marry him, finally."

Joey stared at the little silver ring on Serenity's finger, which she held up for him to see.

"Please don't be mad big bro," Mokuba said sheepishly. "I promise to be really good to her."

"Why didn't you two tell me that you're dating before?" Joey asked.

"Well at least I told you that I'm getting married **before** I actually do get married," Serenity pointed out with a pout.

"I would have told ya, if my boyfriend had actually **asked** me!" Joey reminded her and then gave a sigh. "But I guess ya two win, but I ain't letting ya go to Kaiba's place without me around."

"Why not?" Mokuba asked. "Don't you trust your own husband?"

"Oh I trust him alright," Joey clarified. "I trust him about as far as I can throw the guy."

"Considering that it's you that would be more then I think it's safe to trust Kaiba," Téa said with a worried look on her face while Serenity just chuckled, remembering how her brother always throws her around when playing with each other in the water and had to imagine him doing the same with his brand new husband now.

"Considering that it's my bother I doubt Joey can even hold onto him to throw him at all," Mokuba assumed.

Joey just grinned a wicked smile, "Normally I'd go with you Mokuba, but since I've been dating that jerk I bet I could get him if I distract him enough first. We could give it a try once we're at his place tonight."

"Oh yes!" Mokuba nearly screamed. "I can't wait to see his face if you really do that. But please don't tell him I said that or I'm so dead."

"He would never hurt you," Joey insisted with a smile towards the younger boy. "But he would be more than pissed so I won't tell him. No reason to start a fight right?"

"Like you'll even think of throwing him around when he's in front of you," Tristan butted in with a grin. "You're way to busy letting him kiss you silly."

"Tristan please," Téa whined, "I just ate a little while ago."

"You're happy though aren't you?" Yugi asked, slightly worried. He was happy about their relationship for Kaiba's sake but still worried about his best friend, who never got along with the powerful CEO. And after finding out how they had gotten together he started to worry that the relationship mightn't be the healthiest.

"I'm fine," Joey smiled towards his shorter friend. "Like I told Mokuba, even though it's strange, I really do like him now and enjoy my time with him, mostly at least, but I'm not sure if there is even a chance for it to actually work out."

"Why shouldn't it?" Serenity asked. "If you two love each other I'm sure it will work out somehow."

"And now we don't have to worry about our brothers killing each other during our wedding," Mokuba added cheerfully.

"But you still should keep an eye on them," Tristan warned with a grin. "Or they'll disappear into some bushes or somewhere else to make out."

"And again," Mokuba grumbled with a slight blush, "I really don't want to hear anything about THAT."

Serenity's blush was even darker than Mokuba's while everyone else started to laugh.

Joey's phone vibrated in his pocked, signaling that he got a text massage. He got it out and glanced at it while everyone else was still laughing.

"Hey Mokuba," Joey asked after reading the text message from Seto, "how did ya get here from the airport?"

"With a cab, why?" Mokuba asked. He had arrived with a later flight than Serenity had because of an urgent meeting at work.

"Then I'll tell ya bro to pick us up. He just asked," Joey answered. "I bet he just wants it to talk me into staying with my little sister over at his place so he can…well ya don't want to know."

Téa shivered a little while Serenity replied, "I guess he'll have it easy then."

"And we'll have some fun," Tristan said and when everyone else looked at him questioningly he added, "Did you guys forget already? Joey wanted to throw him around and can do that where we can see now!"

Even Joey had to laugh now and just wrote to Seto, 'Fine, I'll let ya know when we're done here, might get late though.' "He'll be on his way as soon as I tell him to," Joey told them. "And if ya really want to be around for his wrath I can try once he's there."

"Hell yes," Tristan replied immediately.

"I want to see it too," Duke agreed.

"I'll kick your ass if I don't get to see it now Joey," Téa threatened with an exited look on her face.

"I'm not sure if you should do it at all," Yugi cautioned. "You might hurt his pride."

"That's the whole point," Joey said with a grin.

"His pride needs to be brought down a notch or two," Téa agreed and even Mokuba didn't complain against it. He knew that Seto wasn't as proud as they all assumed and had a lot of insecurities too but Joey and Seto needed to figure that out between themselves.

"If you're sure," Yugi mumbled, still looking a little worried while Tristan quickly changed the topic towards the younger couple in the room-their fresh engagement and when the wedding would be. Of course all of them were immediately invited by Mokuba but the date wasn't set yet. He had just asked her that morning and they wanted to tell their brothers before setting a date, just in case they would need two parties-one with each of their brothers to prevent them from killing each other.

Joey was relived about the change in topic since he didn't only want to stop the talk about Kaiba but also wanted to know more about his kid sister's relationship.

They talked for hours and at midnight they where still all in Yugi's living room, drinking a couple of light beverages, eating some snacks and most importantly, talking and laughing without a break.

Joey enjoyed his time greatly until the door bell rang again. "Are you expecting anyone else?" Yugi asked Serenity with a smile.

"I bet it isn't for her," Joey grumbled. "Kaiba ain't known for his patience."

And he was right a little while later no one else but Seto Kaiba appeared in the doorway towards the hall. The second Seto entered the room and looked towards Joey the blond knew that he was annoyed. He probably was sick of waiting for Joey to be ready for pick up, but before he could complain his eyes moved towards Mokuba who was still next to Joey from where he had begged earlier.

"Mokuba?" Seto asked with one raised eyebrow. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

Tristan stared at Joey with a begging look and Joey had to chuckle. He stood up and walked over towards Seto with the words. "I didn't know he would show up either but that ain't the only surprise," he said and moved his arms around Seto before he gave him a short kiss, immediately feeling Seto tense a little. "But before we get to talk about that I need to find something out."

"And what would that be?" Seto asked, slightly weary. It was normal for Joey to cuddle with him or even flirt with him by now, but it wasn't normal that he was the one starting it.

"I want to know how far I can trust you," Joey said innocently, and Tristan couldn't stop himself from chuckling slightly.

"And how do you think you can find that out?" Seto asked, still obviously weary.

"Easy," Joey said and gave him another chaste kiss, feeling Seto's hands move towards his own waist, holding him gently. But not for long since Joey really did try to lift and throw him carefully. But unfortunately for him, Seto had been too weary to be caught off guard and instead of him, it was Joey who sat on the floor so fast that no one knew exactly how Seto had managed it.

"What was that about?" Seto asked, clearly upset.

"I guess that means he trusts you negative by, I'd say, half a meter," Téa chuckled.

"Told you he wouldn't be able to throw him," Mokuba added.

"It was worth a try though," Joey said. "I really thought I could get him now if I distracted him enough. How come that ya expected me to be up to something."

"Because you're stupid," Seto answered "First you tell me that you want to find something out and then you kiss me more gently than ever. It wasn't like you at all. Of course I'd figure out that you're up to no good. And now what was the other surprise you talked about?"

"That ain't my thing to tell ya," Joey said while getting up again and sitting down between Mokuba and Serenity with a glare towards the younger Kaiba."

"Mokuba?" Seto asked and eyed his younger brother with one raised eyebrow. "Is there something you'd like to tell me."

"Yes," Mokuba answered calmly. "But I'm not so sure if I will tell you right now. But tell me big brother, isn't there something you want to tell me?"

"I assume that's not necessary anymore," Seto replied and at least blushed a little bit. He had intended to let Mokuba know as soon as Joey was a little more comfortable about this arrangement and maybe arrange a renewal of their marriage to orchestrate a party where Mokuba could be present. But it seemed the news had already reached his ears.

"Obviously," Mokuba pouted for a moment but then added. "But fortunately for you I'm actually nice enough to tell you that I'm going to get married too. Joey's invited but I'm not to sure about you."

"He didn't tell you about his wedding either," Seto pointed out.

"Sure he didn't," Mokuba answered, "but since he wasn't even asked to marry you, I can't blame him."

"I did ask him," Seto insisted. "I even paid him with food."

"I was wasted!" Joey pointed out. "I told you it doesn't count to ask someone who's too wasted to get the freaking question!"

"And what is your excuse?" Mokuba asked.

"I married a stubborn mutt," Seto answered. "I had a lot to deal with and didn't need you at my back complaining that it was wrong to bully Joey when I'm left with no other option."

"You really are impossible, you know that right?" Mokuba asked but grinned at his older brother anyway. "You really shouldn't bully him though. Why don't you just try to be nice for once?"

"Because I would have him committed," Joey told Mokuba with a grin. "He can't be nice so I would definitely start thinking about some sort of mental issue if he was nice all of a sudden."

Everyone started to laugh while Téa mumbled, "If he's that bad, why not quit dating him," earning herself a death glare from Kaiba.

"Ya wouldn't have to ask if ya ever seen him in his tight pants without the freaking coat ruining the view," Joey answered her, causing the blush on Kaiba's cheeks to darken slightly.

"Whatever," Seto just grumbled. "Are you coming now or what?"

"I told ya I'd text ya if I'm ready to be picked up," Joey answered. "And I didn't text ya again, so does that answer ya question?"

"Yugi," Seto said, sounding dangerously friendly. "How would you like it if your shop would be the first to sell my new gaming system? I'm planning a promotional test run only selling a limited special edition in one shop. The later version will be slightly improved according to the reviews. But if you want your shop to be **that** shop, I want to see you in 4 hours in my office. Joey I think you should let your pal sleep."

"He won't need to go," Yugi replied harshly. "I'm not kicking out my friend just for you."

"Oh don't worry Yugi," Joey stated charmingly. "I don't mind giving you some rest my friend and I'm sure Seto will need his so I'm going home to my place. I'm just sorry for Serenity since I already promised her that we'll be staying at the mansion and I don't trust Seto enough to let her stay there without me being around."

Seto stared at Joey shocked until Joey added sounding a little more threatening, "Unless of course Seto changes his mind about the time of your meeting."

Seto glared at Joey for another moment before he told him. "Fine, he can come some time during the afternoon. Happy now? Great then. Get your sexy little ass into my car."

"Oh yeah sure," came the sarcastic words from the blond. "After all I always do what ya say, don't I?" After that he stood up, took Seto's hand into his own and dragged him to the couch where he had been sitting. He pushed the taller man down and sat on his lap, "Now, do ya think ya can occupy yourself in this position in a decent way long enough for us to finish the conversation and then take me and our siblings to your place, or do I need to kick your sorry ass out and go with my little sister to my apartment."

"Don't say the wrong thing Seto," Mokuba threatened, as intent on getting the siblings to stay at the mansion as his older brother was.

Seto raised one eyebrow, looking at his younger brother questioningly before eying Serenity for a moment. "Then it's safe to assume that it's Serenity to whom you proposed?"

"Correct," Mokuba confirmed, "and stop bullying her older brother when it interferes with my relationship as well as yours."

"He'll deal with it," Seto just stated before turning his questioning eyes towards Joey. "And you're fine with their relationship?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" Joey asked, surprised. "Mokuba's a good kid, and Serenity clearly had more luck than I had. And what's it going to be now, staying or leaving?"

"How much longer do you think I will need to wait?" Seto asked, clearly upset that Joey once again had him in his hand.

"Don't know," Joey answered. He actually had just thought about sending Seto a text to be picked up and he was getting tired, but he didn't want to tell him that now.

Seto looked really pissed but all he did was move his arms around Joey and said, "Fine, but don't take too long-it's getting late."

Joey smiled and after talking with his friends for about 10 more minutes he asked Mokuba, "By the way, kiddo, when's the last time your big brother waited for someone when he didn't want to wait?"

"I don't know," Mokuba answered honestly. "If he ever did it must have been before I was born."

"Yes!" Joey cheered, jumped up and started to dance around. "I won! He did something he wouldn't usually do, and that means he adapted to something! He waited! I won, I won, I won!"

Seto glared at him for a moment before he nearly shouted, "That's it!" He stood up and glared at the shorter boy, who looked at him in surprise after hearing those words. Seto walked up to him and simply grabbed Joey to throw him over his shoulder. "You're leaving, now." And with that he walked out carrying a struggling Joey with him.

Mokuba eyed Serenity worriedly, hoping that she wouldn't let it out on him that his brother bullied her brother, but to his surprise she just chuckled and said, "Joey really should have seen that one coming."

"I guess you're right," Mokuba agreed, relieved. "But I guess we should hurry if we want to go along with them."

"To be honest," Serenity admitted shyly. "I'd rather not be in the same car as our brothers right now. I guess they'll be fighting some more until they make up again."

"Then tell me when you want to go and I call us a cab," Mokuba offered with a smile.

In the meantime Seto had dragged Joey into the car and eyed the way back towards the shop. After a short moment he said, "I guess Mokuba and Serenity will be taking a cab."

"I bet ya terrified my poor little sister," Joey chided but didn't really sound all that angry.

"You really like it when I get mad don't you?" Seto stated with a smile. "I never thought you'd provoke me like that."

"Well, I was getting tired anyway and Serenity and Mokuba still seemed to be having so much fun. And they haven't seen the rest of the gang in ages, especially Mokuba," Joey replied with a blush.

Seto grinned and asked, "Are you really stupid enough to announce that you're planning something before actually trying to surprise me? Or could it be that you simply didn't want to be spoiling your friends' fun but also not stepping on my pride?"

"You're pride needs to be brought down a little," Joey insisted, growling, but added a little more shyly and with a tiny blush on his cheeks, "But maybe not quite that harshly."

"I thought as much," Seto grinned towards his little puppy and held him in his arms while telling his driver to head home. "Does that mean you'll stay with me?"

"I still want to take it slow," Joey insisted, "but I guess we've got more of a chance to make it last than I thought."

"It will last," Seto told Joey, sounding very certain of it, "because I want you, and I always get what I want."

Joey gave a sigh and murmured, "Seems like I've got to deal with the fact that I'm married to a blasted jerk."

"Does that mean you finally accept being married to me?" Seto asked, surprised.

"Do I have a choice?" Joey asked, annoyed. "Even if I have a total black out of that night, I am married to a jerk and starting to like it. I'm even starting to see the uses when I want to escape."

"And why did you want to escape?" Seto asked. "I thought your friends were more important than anything else."

"Just nearly," Joey admitted. "My sister is one of the two persons that are more important."

"And the second one?" Seto asked, feeling a hope rise inside of him.

"My jerk of a husband," Joey answered and gave him a long and hungry kiss before he added, "And I love and missed ya too."

* * *

Authors Note: Thanks to lolcari, LovelyRose5001, Eternal-Shinigami27, Latina shewolf, dancing elf and Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai for the reviews as well as everyone who faved the story put it on their alert list or just read it all the way to the end. I hope you all liked it.


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